Prevalence of anemia and associated factors in a Moroccan population from the Northwestern region of Morocco (M’diq-Fnideq-Martil Prefecture)

INTRODUCTION: anemia remains a major public health challenge worldwide, frequently having multifactorial causes and wide-ranging, largely underestimated repercussions. The purpose of this paper is to assess the prevalence of anemia and identify associated factors in a group of children, adults, and pregnant women. METHODS: our sample consisted of a total of 1360 volunteers (group I: 410 school-aged children aged 5-11 years; group II: 533 adults aged 16 to 65 years; group III: 417 pregnant women aged 17 to 45 years) randomly selected from different towns of the M'diq-Fnideq prefecture, Morocco from March 2018 to September 2018. Data on socio-demographic, anthropometric, and dietary status were collected from a questionnaire survey. A complete blood count was performed using a hematology analyzer, Sysmex KX21N® (Sysmex Corporation, Kobe, Japan), in the hematology laboratory of the Mohamed VI Hospital of M'diq. RESULTS: anemia was found in 31% of children, 52.4% of adults, and 22.5% of pregnant women. Microcytic hypochromic anemia was the most dominant type of anemia in children, adults, and pregnant women with percentages of 40.6%, 48.7%, and 43.5%, respectively. Mild anemia was much more common than moderate and severe anemia in all groups. Furthermore, anemia was associated with low socioeconomic and educational levels in adults (22.8% versus 27.9%) and pregnant women (18.1% versus 16.8%). Schoolchildren with illiterate parents and low socioeconomic levels are the most affected by anemia, with a prevalence of 75% and 69.44%, respectively. Also, children with insufficient stature are at a high risk for anemia compared to children of normal stature (p<0.001). As for weight for age, the odds ratio (OR) was 4.32. A significant difference between underweight and anemia was revealed (p<0.001). A frequency of meat product, vegetables, and fruit consumption lower than 1.5 times per week increases the risk of anemia in schoolchildren. CONCLUSION: these findings showed a significant prevalence of anemia in all study groups associated with socioeconomic, anthropometric, and nutritional factors. However, further studies are needed to focus on interventions and etiologies in order to limit potential complications, especially in schoolchildren and pregnant women.