Study Of Knowledge On Anemia Among The Women Attending Out Patient Department Of A Tertiary Care Hospital

Abstract

Introduction: Anemia is considered the most common blood disorder which is affecting about onethird of the global population. Women require higher amount of iron than men and the requirement increase during pregnancy period as different physiological changes occur in the maternal red cell mass during that period. Objectives: The objective of the present study is to assess the level of knowledge about causes, symptom and prevention of iron deficiency anemia among women of reproductive ages attending outpatient department of our tertiary care hospital. Methodology: Data was collected by conducting face-to-face interview. The questionnaire of this study was pre-tested before starting the data collection and modified as per requirement. Before starting the data collection, permission was obtained from the respondents and verbal informed consent was taken. After collection of data, all interviewed questionnaires were checked for completeness, correctness and internal consistency to exclude missing or inconsistent data. After the collection of demographic data, assessment of knowledge was done using structured questionnaire technique on knowledge about anemia. It had maximum possible score of 20 and minimum was 0. The score 0 to 9 were categorized as inadequate knowledge, 10 to 14 were categorized as average knowledge and 15 to 20 were categorized as adequate knowledge. Corrected data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) statistical software version 20. Results: The data presented in the table 1 shows that most the women participated in the study belong to the age group 25-30 years, majority of them belong to Hindu religion, 54% of them are vegetarian and 46% are mixed diet, 48% of the women were housewife’s, 75% of them were married and 40% of them had education up to 10th standard. The data presented in the table 2 shows that 42% of the study subjects had good knowledge, 32% had average knowledge and 26% had below average knowledge about anemia. The data presented in the table 3 shows the correlation of education level and occupation level with the levels of knowledge, there was no significant correlation existed between the levels of knowledge and education levels but socioeconomic status of women had significant association with their knowledge on anemia. Discussion & Conclusion: It is evident from our study that though the women had good level of knowledge but lack of healthy iron rich foods in daily food, drinking tea, irregular intake of breakfast, low household monthly income, low socioeconomic status all of those were increasing the prevalence of anemia. However, to ensure adequate practice to fight with anemia, physiological social, demographic and cultural limitations must be addressed proficiently. Also, the findings from this study revealed that there is strong and significant relationship of knowledge and attitude on anemia with the socio-demographic status and level of education of the respondents. As there is a need to strengthen the existing national nutritional anemia control programme, we all should gear up our activities towards solving this problem by the sincere efforts the requirement of developing intensive education curriculum including the detailed information regarding anemia since childhood so that pertinent knowledge can be disseminated to the women since the very beginning of their education and learning process that can impact positively to fight against anemia in their future.