Burden and Correlates of Anaemia Among School-Going Children Aged 5–16 Years in Rural Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh: A Crosssectional Study

Background: Anaemia is an important public health problem in children. The present study assessed the prevalence ofanaemia among school-going children aged 5–16 years in a rural area of Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, and examined itsdistribution in relation to demographic, dietary, socioeconomic and anthropometric characteristics. Materials and Methods:This cross-sectional observational study included 386 school children aged 5–16 years from government and private ruralschools in Bareilly district during February 2021 to August 2022. The thesis described a multistage random samplingprocedure. Demographic, socioeconomic and dietary information and selected clinical findings were collected using apredesigned, pretested questionnaire. Venous haemoglobin was estimated by Sahli's method. Height and weight wererecorded and BMI was calculated. Anaemia severity was classified according to the haemoglobin categories used in thestudy. Results: Of 386 children, 219 (56.73%) were boys and 167 (43.27%) were girls. Anaemia was present in 147 children(38.08%); 90 (23.31%) had mild, 46 (11.92%) moderate and 11 (2.85%) severe anaemia. Anaemia prevalence was 60.12%in the 5–10-year group and 20.19% in the older group. The difference by sex was not statistically significant (39.27% inboys vs 36.53% in girls; p=0.582). Based on the reported contingency-table counts, anaemia was associated with dietaryhabit (48.79% among vegetarian children vs 25.70% among non-vegetarian children; p<0.001), breakfast consumption(24.88% among regular breakfast consumers vs 54.34% among those without regular breakfast; p<0.001), and BMI category(51.57% among children with low BMI vs 19.63% among those with normal BMI; p<0.001). Socioeconomic status wasdescribed among anaemic children, but a valid association could not be established from the internally inconsistent SEStables in the thesis. Conclusion: Anaemia affected 38.08% of the school children studied, with mild anaemia predominating.The reported data indicate important differences in anaemia prevalence according to age, dietary habit, breakfastconsumption and BMI. Because haemoglobin estimation alone does not establish the cause of anaemia, these findings shouldbe interpreted as anaemia prevalence/associations rather than proof of iron deficiency. School-based nutrition education,screening, appropriate iron supplementation and deworming should be considered within existing public-health programmes