Thalassemia and hemoglobinopathy prevalence in a community-based sample in Sylhet, Bangladesh

Table 4 Association of inherited blood disorders with anemia and hemoglobin concentration in women and children in Sylhet, Bangladesh

Characteristics	Non-pregnant women			Pregnant women			Children^b
Odds ratio (OR) for anemia^a	n	OR (95% CI)	P-value	n	OR (95% CI)	P-value	n	OR (95% CI)	P-value
Any inherited blood disorders	768	2.12 (1.26, 3.56)	0.004	132	2.45 (0.80, 7.54)	0.12	395	1.72 (0.80, 3.72)	0.16
Any alpha thalassemia	734	1.86 (0.98, 3.56)	0.06	126	1.86 (0.42, 8.17)	0.41	375	0.85 (0.30, 2.40)	0.76
Any beta thalassemia^c	694	7.70 (2.02, 29.4)	0.003		***		363	4.51 (0.77, 26.5)	0.09
Hemoglobin E	704	1.33 (0.51, 3.51)	0.56	121	1.28 (0.12, 14.1)	0.84	361	2.07 (0.31, 13.9)	0.45

Hemoglobin concentration (g/dl)	n	Beta (95% CI)	P-value	n	Beta (95% CI)	P-value	n	Beta (95% CI)	P-value
Any inherited blood disorders	768	− 0.48 (− 0.74, − 0.21)	< 0.001	132	− 0.60 (− 1.23, 0.04)	0.06	395	− 0.36 (− 0.74, 0.03)	0.07
Any alpha thalassemia	734	− 0.39 (− 0.72, − 0.06)	0.02	126	− 0.40 (− 1.18, 0.38)	0.31	375	− 0.13 (− 0.64, 0.39)	0.64
Any beta thalassemia	694	− 1.09 (− 1.74, − 0.44)	< 0.001	119	− 2.10 (− 3.72, − 0.48)	0.01	363	− 0.34 (− 1.12, 0.44)	0.39
Hemoglobin E	704	− 0.43 (− 0.93, 0.06)	0.08	121	− 0.35 (− 1.54, 0.84)	0.56	361	− 0.26 (− 1.16, 0.63)	0.56

In each analysis, the reference group consists of those without any inherited blood disorder. Therefore, sample size varies between analyses. All estimates were adjusted for clustering by settlement
^aWe used the following anemia cut-offs: non-pregnant women (mild: Hb 11–11.9 g/dl; moderate: 8.0–10.9 g/dL; severe: Hb < 8.0 g/dl), pregnant women in the first and third trimester (mild: Hb 10–10.9 g/dl; moderate: 7.0–9.9 g/dl; severe: Hb < 7.0 g/dl), pregnant women in the second trimester (mild: Hb 9.5–10.4 g/dl; moderate: 6.5–9.4 g/dl; severe: Hb < 6.5 g/dl), and children (mild: Hb 10–10.9 g/dl; moderate: 7.0–9.9 g/dl; severe: Hb < 7.0 g/dl). For 11 women, pregnancy status was unknown, thus they have been excluded from this analysis as anemia cut-offs could not be calculated
^bChild estimates were additionally adjusted for child age in days at time of blood measurement
^cThe two pregnant women with beta thalassemia were both anemic which made a regression analysis impossible

ISSN: 1750-1172