Memuna Sanusi

Conference 2022 Poster Presentation

 

Project title

The effect of anemia on stunted growth in children between the ages of 6 to 24 months at the Bosomtwe district in Ghana

 

Authors and Affiliations

Memuna Sanusi1

1. Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana.

 

Abstract

Background

Childhood stunting and anemia remains a public health concern in several African countries including Ghana. Stunting and anemia is linked to negative functional outcomes, and growth deficiency in infancy and early childhood. Stunting is linked to a higher risk of infant deaths, increasing disease vulnerability, and delayed cognitive and psychomotor growth. Stunting has long-term effects, such as lower academic performance, decreased work ability, and negative pregnancy outcomes. Iron deficiency anemia also impairs cognitive abilities and impairs linear development. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of stunting, the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia, and to determine the effect of iron deficiency anemia on stunting in children, 6-23 months in the Bosomtwe District.

Methods

Anthropometric measurements were taken and blood sample for hemoglobin levels of children were also collected. A structured questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographic data. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20 was used and statistical significance was set at p<0.05 (95% confidence interval) for the analysis of the data obtained during the study

Results

Overall, anthropometric indices were available for 300 children between the ages of 6 to 23 months old. Two hundred and fifty-nine of the children (86.3%) were normal without stunting and 41 (13.7%) of the children were stunted and the mean (±SD) stunting (length for age) of the children was 2.84 (±0.437). It was indicated that 137 of the children were anemic. Out of 137 that were anemic, 65 (21.7%) had mild anemia, 61(20.3%) had moderate anemia and 11 (3.7%) were severely anemic. There was no significance between the correlation of anemia and stunted growth.

Conclusions

This study demonstrate that childhood anemia and stunting in 6-23 months children is high in the Bosomtwe district in Ghana, indicating that under nutrition is a severe public health concern among children. This study also suggests that, anemia does not affect stunted growth, thus most of the participants with anemia in this study were not stunted. And the children that were stunted did not have anemia.