Anemia Across Lifespans in Rural South India: A Comprehensive Study of Age and Gender Dynamics From the Field Practice Area of Centre for Rural Health (CRHA), Nutakki, Andhra Pradesh.

Background: Anemia is a significant public health issue in rural India, with a very big impact on health and productivity. This study investigates the prevalence and severity of anemia stratified by age and gender in a village in Southern India, using different guidelines.

Methods:  Retrospective data (n=3523) from a 2023 anemia survey done in the field area at Chirravuru under the Centre for Rural Health AIIMS (CRHA), Primary Health Centre (PHC), Nutakki (a peripheral unit of All India Institute of Medical Sciences {AIIMS}, Mangalagiri) covering 90% of the estimated population of the village was taken for the study. The hemoglobin levels were estimated from capillary blood, from where anemia severity was determined. Analysis was carried out to evaluate variations by age and gender to obtain statistical inferences.  Results: Prevalence of anemia in the whole population was 79.3% (n=2792) with 32.9% (n=1159) of it being mild, 41.07% (n=1447) moderate, and 5.3% (n=186) severely anemic. Men had higher anemia of milder forms (43.3%) (n=746) than women (23.0%) (n=413), whereas women presented with a more severe form (7.8%) (n=140) compared to men (2.7%) (n=46). Moderate anemia tended to be similar in prevalence across both genders and was commoner among children under five (60%) (n=12) and adolescents (46.6%) (n=41) in comparison with adults (40.7%) (n=1350). Severe anemia was more frequent in adults (5.4%) (n=184).

Conclusions: Our findings revealed a relatively higher burden of anemia among women and children in Chirravuru. Similar areas of our country need targeted interventions to improve the hemoglobin status of adults and children through nutritional supplementation and health education.