OBJECTIVETo study the related risk factors of anemia of rural elderly women in Huangling county, Shanxi, northwest of China.

METHODSElderly women aged 50-75 years in Huangling (northwest of China) were selected as study objects. Finger hemoglobin (Hb) was measured and basic health survey was face-to-face questioned. Two-hundred anemia elderly women were entered into the case group; and by age-matching, 200 with normal Hb concentration were entered into the control group. Dietary survey, health and lifestyle questionnaire were undertaken, and related blood indexes were tested.

RESULTSIn case and control group, annual income was (446.1 +/- 107.9) vs (903.8 +/- 179.1) yuan (t = 3.06, P < 0.01), daily average physical active time was (9.6 +/- 3.2) vs (10.3 +/- 3.1) hours (t = 1.94, P < 0.05), proportion of experiencing food scarce period was 31.8% vs 22.6% (chi2 = 4.14, P < 0.05), waist circumference was (76.2 +/- 7.3) vs (79.5 +/- 8.9) cm (t = 4.08, P < 0.01), respectively; the total protein was (78.0 +/- 5.8) vs (81.9 +/- 6.0) g/L(t = 5.94, P < 0.01), serum iron was (13.9 +/- 5.7) vs (16.1 +/- 5.0) micromol/L (t = 4.19, P < 0.01), serum ferritin was (94.9 +/- 76.4) vs (116.6 +/- 85.2) microg/L (t = 2.58, P < 0.01), saturation of transferrin was 22.9% +/- 10.0% vs 25.6% +/- 8.7% (t = 3.16, P < 0.01), respectively. Multifactor conditioned logistic regression analysis showed that the odd ratio (OR) for anemia with annual income, whether experiencing food scarce period, daily average physical active time, staple food, soybean products, energy was 0.57, 4.74, 0.06, 0.59, 0.55, 0.65, respectively; their confidence interval (CI) was 0.45 - 0.71, 0.73 - 30.56, 0.01 - 0.52, 0.38 - 0.91, 0.34 - 0.87, 0.44 - 0.98, respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe quality of diet, health status and related blood indexes in anemia elderly women were lower than those in control group; lower income, less active time, less staple food, soybean products and energy intake should be risk factors of anemia.