Abstract
IntroductionThe definition of anemia has attracted considerable interest because several studies have demonstrated that hematologic profile vary with ethnicity in addition to age, sex and altitude. This has led scholars to recommend the use of population specific hematologic reference values in diagnosing blood disorders. However, there is limited information about Tanzanians population specific hemoglobin (Hb) levels which can be used to set cut-off points to define anemia. This study aimed to determine plasma Hb concentrations among healthy Tanzanian women.MethodsThis cross sectional study was done in Mwanza. Sociodemographic data were collected using questionnaires and plasma Hb concentrations were measured by calorimetric method. Data were analyzed using SPSS.ResultsA total of 215 (162 pregnant, 53 non-pregnant) women with a mean age of 28.2 ± 6.54 years participated in the study. The mean plasma Hb concentrations were 12.0 ± 1.43 mg/dl and 11.9 ± 1.15 mg/dl for pregnant and non-pregnant women respectively. The Hb levels did not significantly vary between pregnant and non-pregnant women. Using WHO reference values, 45.3% non-pregnant and 26.5% pregnant women were found to be anemic while using the population specific reference, only 1.9% of pregnant and none of non-pregnant women would be classified as anemic.ConclusionMost Tanzanian women who are diagnosed to have anemia during pregnancy, often had developed lower Hb before pregnancy and operational thresholds for diagnosis of anemia observed in this study are lower than WHO recommended references values. We recommend a large scale study to determine hematological profile of Tanzanian.
Highlights
The definition of anemia has attracted considerable interest because several studies have demonstrated that hematologic profile vary with ethnicity in addition to age, sex and altitude
In many African countries including Tanzania the definition of anemia is based on reference values of hemoglobin level set by World Health Organization (WHO) nearly 50 years ago using data collected from developed countries [1, 2]
Other studies which showed that ethnicity is an important factor in interpreting hematologic profile of individuals are those which demonstrated that Han people who migrated to the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau have hemoglobin concentrations higher than native Tibetans [3,4,5, 7,8,9,10, 13]
Summary
The definition of anemia has attracted considerable interest because several studies have demonstrated that hematologic profile vary with ethnicity in addition to age, sex and altitude. This has led scholars to recommend the use of population specific hematologic reference values in diagnosing blood disorders. Other studies which showed that ethnicity is an important factor in interpreting hematologic profile of individuals are those which demonstrated that Han people who migrated to the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau have hemoglobin concentrations higher than native Tibetans [3,4,5, 7,8,9,10, 13]. The differences in Hb levels between populations with different ancestral origin derived the scholars to suggest a consideration of using separate hematologic reference values for each population [9, 11, 12], because choosing unrelated "normal ranges" may lead to a false diagnosis and unnecessary additional investigation and treatment costs [12]
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