Abstract:
Background: Anemia is prevalent in adult heart failure patients and appears to be an
independent risk factor for morbidity and mortality but data are lacking in children with
heart failure. The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence and severity of anemia
among children hospitalized with cardiac disease to pediatric ward JUMC.
Objective: - To assess prevalence and severity of anemia among children with cardiac
disease admitted to pediatrics ward Jimma University medical center
Me
th
ods: - Institution-based longitudinal study design was conducted in different wards,
Department of Pediatrics, Jimma University Medical Center during the study period. Data
was entered into Epi-data version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis.
Descriptive analysis was used to identify the prevalence and severity of anemia among
children with Cardiac disease at Jimma University Medical Center. Binary logistic
regression was used to identify predictor variables; bivariate logistic regression was used to
select the candidate variables at p-value ≤ 0.25, finally multivariate logistic regression was
conducted to declare statistically significant variables with anemia at p-value < 0.05 with
95% CI of AOR.
Results: Children aged below 15 years were enrolled based on inclusion criteria. Etiologies
of heart failure included were Rheumatic heart diseases (n=35), acyanotic CHD (n=50), and
Ca
rdiomyopathy (n=3). Acute heart failure at admission (n=67) and not in acute heart
failure (n=21). Mean Hemoglobin at admission was 10.9 ± 3.021 g/dl. The prevalence of
anemia among children with cardiac diseases was 55.68 % (95% CI 46.6 to 64.8%) at
admission. Severe anemia occurs in 7/42(16.7%), moderate anemia 26/42(61.9 %), and mild
anemia 9/42(21.4 %). Anemia among children with cardiac diseases had an association with
severe wasting with 95 % CI, AOR 3.83(1.02, 14.41) and p-value <0.05, acute heart failure
with 95 % CI, AOR 4.96(1.35, 18.15)*, p-value <0.05, and rheumatic heart diseases with
95 %, AOR 10.78(2.98, 38.98)*, p-value <0.05.
Co
nclusion: This study shows there was high prevalence of anemia among children admitted
with cardiac diseases and also preventable precipitating factor for acute heart failure.
Recommendation: In this study, the high prevalence of anemia among children with cardiac
diseases and precipitating factor for CHF. We recommend screening and treating anemia in
children with cardiac diseases as a routine care for these populations to avert the preventable
precipitator of acute heart failure.
