Dietary Intake, Prevalence, and the Effect of Anemia on Various Morphophysiological Variables of Postmenopausal Women of North India

CONTEXT: Anemia has a high prevalence among postmenopausal Indian females. AIM AND OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate dietary intake, prevalence, and the effect of anemia on various morphophysiological variables among postmenopausal women. SETTING AND DESIGN: This was a community-based sample survey. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 250 postmenopausal women aged 45–80 years from various parts of North India participated in the study. Anthropometric measurements, hemoglobin concentration, and bone mineral density (BMD) (using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) of each participant were assessed. A 24-h dietary recall method for three consecutive days was employed. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20 was used for statistical considerations. RESULTS: An age-associated decline in the mean values of hemoglobin concentration and the prevalence of anemia was reported to be 85.2% among postmenopausal women. Anemic women were lighter and had lesser circumferential measurements as well as lower BMD than their nonanemic counterparts. The intake of nutrients such as protein, calcium, and iron and energy was lower among anemic women than nonanemic women. Binary logistic regression analysis identified age (odds ratio = 1.04, 95% confidence interval = 1.00–1.09)* as the possible predictor of anemia. CONCLUSIONS: Anemia was not only the result of aging process but also inadequate and unbalanced dietary intake.