Prevalence of Iron Deficiency Anemia in Asian Female Population and Human Development Index (HDI): An Ecological Study

Anemia is a major problem in developing countries the purpose of the present study is to investigate the relationship between the human development index (HDI) and the prevalence of anemia among Asian women. Methods: This is a descriptive-analytic ecological study. The study data including HDI and prevalence of anemia were extracted from the World Bank. Correlation coefficient and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for data analysis. The significance level was considered to be less than ۰.۰۵. Analyses were performed using Stata-۱۴ software. Results The results revealed that the prevalence of anemia in women of reproductive age (R = -۰.۶۲۶, P <۰.۰۰۰۱), pregnant women (R = -۰.۵۷۶, P <۰.۰۰۰۱) and non-pregnant women (R = -۰.۶۲۳, P <۰.۰۰۰۱) was in a significant negative correlation with HDI index. The analysis of HDI components and the prevalence of anemia exhibited a significant negative correlation between prevalence of anemia and Mean years of schooling (MYS), Life expectancy at birth (LEB) and Expected years of schooling (EYS) indices in all three groups of women (non-pregnant, pregnant and of reproductive age) (P <۰.۰۵). Conclusion: Since there is a negative correlation between the prevalence of anemia in women and HDI, paying greater attention to factor influencing anemia can contribute to the prevention of anemia in developing countries.