Occurrence of Iron Deficiency Anemia and Its Correlating Factors among Female Undergraduate Medical Students at Kampala International University in Western Uganda

Abstract

This research aimed to evaluate the prevalence and factors contributing to iron deficiency anemia among undergraduate female medical students at Kampala International University Western Campus (KIU-WC). Employing a cross-sectional study design, data was collected from a sample of undergraduate female medical students at KIU-WC using a simple random sampling method. The information gathered through questionnaires was entered into Microsoft Excel 2013 and analyzed using Stata 12.0. Among the 384 randomly selected respondents, the study revealed an anemia prevalence of 15.89%. The socio-demographic factors significantly associated with anemia included age group (20 – 24 years vs. less than 20 years), mother’s education level (high school vs. no education), and primary expenses (social events vs. buying food). Additionally, nutritional behaviors such as frequency of meals per day (3 – 4 meals vs. 1 - 2 meals) and weekly breakfast intake (6 – 7 times vs. 0 – 1 time) were associated with anemia. Comparatively, the prevalence of undernutrition among these female medical students was relatively low compared to similar studies. Notably, age, mother’s education level, primary expenses, frequency of meals, and weekly breakfast intake emerged as significant factors associated with anemia among undergraduate female medical students at KIU-WC. Keywords: Anaemia, Women of reproductive age, Pregnant women, Female medical students, Haemoglobin.