Diarrhea and fever as risk factors for anemia among children under age five living in urban slum areas of Indonesia

Richard D. Semba, Saskia de Pee, Michelle O. Ricks, Mayang Sari, Martin W. Bloem

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objectives: To characterize diarrhea and fever as risk factors for anemia among children in developing countries. Methods: We characterized risk factors for anemia in a sample of 32 873 children, aged 6-59 months, from poor families in urban slum areas of Indonesia from 2000 to 2003. Results: The prevalence of anemia was 58.7%. In separate multivariate models, after adjusting for age, sex, stunting, maternal age and education, and weekly per capita household expenditure, current diarrhea (OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.07-1.35, p = 0.002), current fever (OR 1.44, 95% CI 1.18-1.75, p < 0.0001), and a history of diarrhea in the previous seven days (OR 1.12, 95% CI 1.03-1.23, p = 0.024) were associated with an increased risk of anemia. Conclusions: Diarrhea and fever are important risk factors for anemia among young children living in urban slum communities in Indonesia.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)62-70
Number of pages9
JournalInternational Journal of Infectious Diseases
Volume12
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2008

Keywords

  • Anemia
  • Children
  • Diarrhea
  • Fever
  • Hemoglobin
  • Indonesia

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Microbiology (medical)
  • Infectious Diseases

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