Backround & Objective: Iron deficiency anemia is a major public health problem worldwide, particularly in developing countries. Women especially during reproductive life are vulnerable group. Around 1/3 of the worldۥs population suffers from anemia and nutritional deficiency is to blame as the most significant factor. About 350 million women and 50% of the children in developing countries are anemic. This disease has a high prevelance in our country and according to the statistis released by the nutrition improvement office, 50% of women aged 15-49 suffer from various degrees of anemia and 34% have severe anemia. Since no surveys about IDA have been carried out on non-pregnant women in zanjan, this study was carried out with the aim of determining IDA indices among non-pregnent women aged 15-45 in Zanjan.
Materials & Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study 33 clusters were randomly selected using the city map and out of each cluster 10 non-pregnant women aged 15-45 were studied (total: 330 people). The data was collected through a general questionnaire, taking 5ml blood sample from right arm, and running tests on blood samples. Hemoglobin, hematocrit, MCHC, ferritin, serum iron, TIBC and transferrin saturation were determined, then the mean values were calculated and the prevalence of IDA was measured on the basis of blood indices.
Results: IDA values were 23.6%, 47.3%, 14.5%, 24.2%, 39.6%, 18.2% and 30.3% in terms of hemoglobin, hematocrit, MCHC, serum iron, TIBC, transferrin saturation and ferritin, respectively, with the lowest value belonging to MCHC and the highest value to hematocrit.
Conclusion: IDA has a relatively high prevalence among the studied women which stands above the countryۥs average, likely to be regarded as a public health priority. Thus, the women should be trained against wrong nutitional habits as well as receiving iron supplement in the short run, enrichment of foodstuff with iron is also recommended as a preventive plan.