Prevalence and severity of anemia among children with Cardiac disease admitted to pediatrics ward, Jimma University Medical Center, Ethiopia - -An institutional-based longitudinal study.

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.