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Meta-Analysis
. 2024 Jun 13;16(12):1854.
doi: 10.3390/nu16121854.

The Prevalence of Anemia among Pregnant Women in China: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Yalin Zhou  1   2 , Ying Lyu  1   2 , Wanyun Ye  1   2 , Hanxu Shi  1   2 , Yile Peng  1   2 , Zhang Wen  1   2 , Anuradha Narayan  3 , Xiaona Huang  4 , Suying Chang  4 , Yuning Yang  4 , Yajun Xu  1   2   5
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

The Prevalence of Anemia among Pregnant Women in China: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Yalin Zhou et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

The systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to ascertain the prevalence of anemia, iron deficiency (ID), and iron deficiency anemia (IDA) among Chinese pregnant women. A total of 722 articles on maternal anemia during pregnancy published between January 2010 and December 2020 were compiled, and a systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted on 57 eligible studies including 1,376,204 pregnant women to ascertain the prevalence of anemia and the prevalence in different subgroups. The results showed that the prevalence of anemia, ID, and IDA among pregnant women in China were 30.7% (95% CI: 26.6%, 34.7%), 45.6% (95% CI: 37.0%, 54.2%), and 17.3% (95% CI: 13.9%, 20.7%), respectively. All prevalence increased with the progression of the pregnancy. There were sizable regional variations in the prevalence of anemia, ID, and IDA. Generally, lower prevalence was observed in the economically more advanced eastern region of the country, while the prevalence of ID was higher in the eastern region than that in the western region. The prevalence of anemia and IDA in rural areas was higher than that in urban areas, but ID prevalence was higher in urban areas. In conclusion, the regional differences and urban-rural disparities in the prevalence of anemia indicate the need for more context-specific interventions to prevent and treat anemia. It was found that dietary factors were one of the major causes of anemia, and iron-containing supplements and nutrition counseling could be effective interventions to reduce the prevalence of anemia, ID, and IDA among Chinese pregnant women.

Keywords: China; anemia; iron deficiency; iron deficiency anemia; pregnant women.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA flow diagram. 孕妇: pregnant women; 孕产妇: pregnant and maternity women; 孕期 or 妊娠期: pregnancy; 贫血: anemia; 缺铁性贫血: iron deficiency anemia; 铁缺乏: iron deficiency; 铁营养: iron nutrition status; 现况OR患病率 OR 流行: prevalence; 发病率: incidence.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The geographic location of the studies included in the meta-analysis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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