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Trends in indicators and prevalence of anemia in US adults: comparative analysis of pre‐ and post‐folic acid fortification surveys
Author(s) -
Kafai Mohammad R,
Ganji Vijay
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.20.5.lb98
Subject(s) - fortification , medicine , anemia , hematocrit , hemoglobin , folic acid , population , demography , national health and nutrition examination survey , environmental health , food science , biology , sociology
Folic acid fortification had a remarkable effect on folate status in the US. It is not known whether folic acid fortification had any impact on the indicators and prevalence of anemia. Therefore, we investigated the impact of folic acid fortification on indicators of anemia such as hemoglobin, hematocrit, and mean cell volume (MCV) and prevalence of anemia in US adults utilizing the data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, 1988–1994, 1999–2000, and 2001–2002. Hemoglobin concentrations slightly but significantly improved from 1988–1994 to 1999–2002 in men (≈1.3%) (P<0.014), women (≈2.2%) (P<0.0003), non‐Hispanic white men (≈2.0%) (P<0.012) and women (≈3.0%) (P<0.0001), and non‐Hispanic black men (≈1.4%) (P<0.011). Similar trends were observed in hematocrit values. In men but not in women, there was a slight but significant increase (≈1.0%) in MCV from 1988–1994 to 1999–2000 (P<0.012). Across the three surveys, prevalence of anemia was higher in non‐Hispanic black compared to other race‐ethnicities, in older persons (≥60 y) compared to younger persons (<60 y), and in those with low poverty income ratio (PIR) compared to those with high PIR. However, prevalence of anemia based on hemoglobin concentrations (< 12.0 g/dL for men; <11.0 g/dL for women) was unchanged from 1988–1994 to 1999–2002 in various demographic categories of US population. This suggests that folic acid fortification had no significant impact on prevalence of overall anemia in the US.