Abstract:
Background: Anemia is a public health problem worldwide and also associated with H. pylori
infection. Determining prevalence of anemia and its association with H. pylori infection is
important to develop evidence based decision and intervention strategies. The magnitude of
anemia and its association with H. pylori infection is not well known in this study area. Objectives: To determine prevalence of anemia and its association with H. pylori infection
among adult dyspeptic patients attending Wachemo University Nigist Elein Mohammad
Memorial Referral Hospital from January 8,2019 to April 1,2019; Hosanna, southwest Ethiopia. Method: A cross sectional study was conducted involving 362 consecutive adult dyspeptic
patients who came to the Hospital during the study period. Socio-demographic, clinical and other
related data were collected by structured questionnaire. Four milliliter of venous blood sample
was collected for hematological parameters analysis and blood film preparation. Stool sample
was collected to detect H. pylori antigen and intestinal parasite. Data were analyzed by SPSS
version 21. Frequency table, graph and descriptive summaries were used to describe variables.
Independent sample T-test, bivarate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were performed. In this study p<0.05 was considered as statistically significant.
Results: The overall prevalence of anemia among dyspeptic patients was 24.3% (95%CI: 19.9,
28.7). Among H. pylori infected participants 29.2% were anemic, of which 69.2% had mild
anemia and 63.5% had normocytic normochromic anemia. Rural residence (AOR: 1.9, 95%CI:
(1.1, 3.3), H. pylori infection (AOR: 1.77, 95%CI: (1.05, 2.98) and intestinal parasitic infection
(AOR: 2.14, 95%CI: (1.14, 4.03) were significantly associated with anemia. The mean (SD)
values of HGB, RBC, HCT, MCV, MCH, MCHC and RDW were significantly different between
H. pylori positive and negative participants.
Conclusion: The prevalence of anemia in this study indicated that it is a moderate public health
problem. Rural residence, H. pylori and intestinal parasitic infection were significantly
associated with anemia. The findings of this study should be taken into account for prevention
and control of anemia among dyspeptic adults.
