High Anemia Prevalence in Korean Older Adults, an Advent Healthcare Problem: 2007-2016 KNHANES
Abstract BACKGROUND: Anemia is associated with high morbidity and mortality in older people. However, anemia in older individuals is not fully understood, and national data on the prevalence and characteristics of anemia in Korean older people are lacking. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence and characteristics of anemia in older adults using data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES), which is the nation-wide cross-sectional epidemiological study conducted by Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare.Methods: Data from the total of 62,825 participants of the 2007-2016 KNHANES were merged and analyzed to investigate differences in participant characteristics and potential risk factors for anemia. Differences in participant characteristics were compared across subgroups using the chi-squared test for categorical variables and independent t-test for continuous variables. Univariate and multivariate analyses using logistic regression were performed to identify related clinical factors.RESULTS: The prevalence of anemia was higher in the population aged ≥65 years than in the younger population. Anemia was also more prevalent among females than among males, but the difference was not statistically significant in people aged >85 years. Being underweight, receiving a social allowance, living alone, and having comorbidities such as hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes mellitus (DM), cancer, and chronic renal failure (CRF) were more prevalent in older adults with anemia than in the group without anemia. In the univariate and multivariate analyses, older age, female sex, underweight, and comorbidities including rheumatoid arthritis, DM, cancer, and CRF were associated with an increased risk of anemia. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed that age, female sex, underweight, and the presence of comorbidities such as rheumatoid arthritis, DM, cancer, and CRF were associated with an increased risk of anemia in Korean older adults. Further study on causal relationships between anemia and other variables in the older population is necessary.