Associations of dietary, body mass index, lifestyle, and sociodemographic factors with iron deficiency anemia

Abstract

Introduction: Anemia is one of the important public health problems plaguing the world today. Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) constitutes the majority of this anemia population. This study aims to explore the relationship of IDA and socio-demographic, lifestyle, dietary, physical activity, and different body size phenotypes in the adult Turkish population Methods: The case-control study was carried out between August and October 2019 at the internal medicine outpatient clinic of the tertiary hospital. A total of 101 anemic and 111 age and gender matched non-anemic healthy controls were included. Iron-deficiency anemia was defined as the presence of both anemia and inflammation-adjusted ferritin concentration less than 15 ng/ml. Sociodemographic, lifestyle and nutritional characteristics of the participants were questioned with a questionnaire form. The physical activity level of the participants was evaluated with the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). Results: Non-anemic 111 (90 female, 21 male) and anemic 101 (90 female, 11 male) participants were included in the study. Unemployment (p=0.02), tea consumption (p=0.001), chronic disease (p=0.036), physical activity (p<0.001) and dietary diversity (p<0.001) were significantly associated with anaemia. Body mass index of anemic participants were higher than non-anemic (p=0.025). Employment (OR: 2.81, 95% CI: 1.024–7.721, p=0.045), physical activity (minimum) (OR: 0.14, 95% CI: 0.053–0.364, p < 0.001), physical activity (active) (OR: 0.30, 95% CI: 0.097–0.926, p= 0.036), tea consumption time (OR: 4.42, 95% CI: 1.767– 11.059, p= 0.001), vegetables portion (OR: 0.61, 95% CI: 0.433–0.869, p= 0.006), dairy products portion (OR: 0.54, 95% CI: 0.334–0.886, p= 0.015) were independently associated with IDA. Conclusions: Diet diversity, BMI, chronic disease, unemployment, physical activity, and tea consumption have been found to be factors associated with anemia. Food fortification and dietary education can contribute to improving iron status and reducing the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia at the risk population.