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. 2019 Aug 2;16(15):2761.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph16152761.

Dynamic Anemia Status from Infancy to Preschool-Age: Evidence from Rural China

Lei Wang  1 , Mengjie Li  2 , Sarah-Eve Dill  3 , Yiwei Hu  4 , Scott Rozelle  3
Affiliations

Dynamic Anemia Status from Infancy to Preschool-Age: Evidence from Rural China

Lei Wang et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Anemia is a serious nutritional deficiency among infants and toddlers in rural China. However, it is unclear how the anemia status changes among China's rural children as they age. This study investigates the prevalence of anemia as children grow from infancy to preschool-age, as well as the dynamic anemia status of children over time. We conducted longitudinal surveys of 1170 children in the Qinba Mountain Area of China in 2013, 2015 and 2017. The results show that 51% of children were anemic in infancy (6-12 months), 24% in toddlerhood (22-30 months) and 19% at preschool-age (49-65 months). An even larger share of children (67%) suffered from anemia at some point over the course of study. The data also show that although only 4% of children were persistently anemic from infancy to preschool-age, 8% of children saw their anemia status deteriorate. We further found that children may be at greater risk for developing anemia, or for having persistent anemia, during the period between toddlerhood and preschool-age. Combined with the finding that children with improving anemia status showed higher cognition than persistently anemic children, there is an urgent need for effective nutritional interventions to combat anemia as children grow, especially between toddlerhood and preschool age.

Keywords: anemia; dynamic anemia status; early childhood; longitudinal study.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure A1
Figure A1
Sample size of each survey round.
Figure 1
Figure 1
Crossover between normal and anemic states during the three waves of data collection. Data source: Author’s survey.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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