PREVALENCE OF ANEMIA IN FIRST NATIONS CHILDREN OF NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO

OBJECTIVE To estimate the prevalence of anemia among First Nations chi ldren of northwestern Ontario. DESIGN Retrospective review of all hemo globin determinations between 1990 and 1992 in the Sioux Lookout Zone. SETTING The Sioux Lookout Zone Hospital, a secondary care referral ho spital for 28 remote First Nations communities in northwestern Ontario , affiliated with the University of Toronto's Sioux Lookout Program. P ARTICIPANTS All First Nations children age 3 to 60 months who had prod uced venipuncture or fingerprick blood samples between 1990 and 1992 ( 614 children had a total of 1223 hemoglobin determinations). MAIN OUTC OME MEASURES Prevalence of anemia by age, sex, geographical location, and diagnosis. Anemia was defined as a hemoglobin value less than 100g /L. RESULTS Prevalence of anemia peaked in the age range of 6 to 24 mo nths with prevalence rates of 51.7% to 79.3%. Conditions most commonly associated with anemia were respiratory tract infections. Children li ving in communities in the western part of the Sioux Lookout Zone were 1.64 times more likely to have anemia (95% confidence interval 1.15, 2.35) than children in the other communities. CONCLUSIONS Anemia appea rs to be a serious public health problem among preschool children in t he Sioux Lookout Zone.