TITLE:
Prevalence and Morphological Types of Anaemia among Children Under-Five Years in the Volta Regional Hospital of Ghana
AUTHORS:
Joseph Adu-Amankwaah, Emmanuel Alote Allotey, David Annor Kwasie, Innocent Afeke, Patrick Kwasi Owiafe, Paul Chukwuemeka Adiukwu, Orish Verner Ndudiri
KEYWORDS:
Anaemia, Microcytic Hypochromic Anaemia, Full Blood Count, Red Cell Indices, Nutrition
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.5 No.2,
February
26,
2018
ABSTRACT: Background: This study aimed at determining the prevalence and morphological types of anaemia, among children under-five years, who had full blood count (FBC) investigation done at the laboratory of the Volta regional hospital. Methodology: This was a retrospective study of archival FBC test results data for children below 5 years in the laboratory, between1st July to 31st December 2015. The FBC results comprised of the hemoglobin (Hb) concentration and the red blood cell indices. Obtained data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Results: A total 451 children were sampled. Anaemia prevalence in this study was 55.0% (248/451) and most of the children suffered from moderate anaemia (42%) (104/248) with mild and severe anaemia being 34% (84/248) and 24% (60/248) respectively. Children with microcytic hypochromic anaemia were 52%, (130/248), while those with normocytic normochromic were 25% (63/248). Conclusion: Anaemia was found in more than half of the children under-five years and microcytic hypochromic anaemia was the commonest morphological type of anaemia. There is need for a multi-disciplinary approach to elucidate the etiology of anaemia in children under-five years.