Risk of anaemia among women engaged in biomass-based fish smoking as their primary livelihood in the central region of Ghana: a comparative cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Fish smoking using biomass fuel is an important livelihood for women living in the coastal regions of Ghana and may contribute to anaemia risk. We assessed whether women who smoke fish as their primary livelihood are at increased risk of anaemia compared to women in other livelihoods in the Central Region of Ghana. METHODS: We conducted a comparative cross-sectional study of 330 randomly selected adult women (18–49 years) whose primary livelihood was either fish smoking (FSL) involving the burning of biomass fuel (n = 175) or other livelihoods (OL) not involving burning of firewood (n = 155). Data on participants’ recent diet were collected from a single, quantitative 24-h dietary recall and qualitative 7-day food frequency questionnaire of animal-source food (ASF) consumption. We further assessed participants’ haemoglobin concentration using the Urit 12 Hemocue system. We compared total iron intakes, the proportion of dietary iron from animal and plant sources, mean haemoglobin concentrations, and anaemia prevalence between FSL and OL women. RESULTS: Fish was the most frequently consumed ASF by both groups of women. Although OL women consumed more diverse ASFs in the past week compared with the FSL women (3.4 ± 1.2 vs. 2.7 ± 1.3; p < 0.001), the contribution of ASFs to total iron intake in the past day was greater for the FSL women (49.5% vs. 44.0%; p = 0.030). Estimated total dietary iron intake in the past day was generally low (5.2 ± 4.7 mg) and did not differ by group. The unadjusted prevalence of anaemia was 32 and 27.1% among the FSL and OL women, respectively (p = 0.33). After covariates adjustment, the FSL women had statistically higher anaemia prevalence (36.4% vs. 20.5%; p = 0.032) and 80% greater risk of being anemic (RR: 1.8; 95% CI: 1.1, 3.0) than the OL women. CONCLUSION: Women who use biomass fuel to smoke fish as their primary livelihood had an increased risk of anaemia. Furthermore, the average 24-h dietary iron intake among both the FSL and OL women was below their daily iron requirement. Interventions to enhance women’s dietary iron intake and reduce their livelihood related biomass smoke exposure may be warranted in this population. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40795-021-00456-w.