Prevalence of anemia and its association with random blood glucose levels and anthropometric indices in the Saudi female population

Objectives: The present study aims to study the prevalence and association of anemia with random blood glucose levels and other anthropometric indices in a sample of young female students from the University of Hail (UOH) in Hail City, KSA. Methodology: A sample of 400 female college students was enrolled and body composition was measured by using the bioelectrical impendence technique. Random blood glucose levels (RCBG) were measured using One Touch® Ultra® (Lifescan Johnson & Johnson, Milpitas, USA). The study population was divided into two RCBG groups: low RCBG group (<110 mg/dl) and high RCBG group (>110 mg/dl) and Hb: normal Hb group (> 12 g/dl) and anemic group (<12 mg/dl). Pearson correlation, chi-square analysis, and linear regression analysis were used to examine associations between variables. T-test was used to check to mean differences. Results: Around 79 percent of the study population were having low RCBG (<110 mg/dl) while 21 percent were observed to have high RCBG (>110 mg/dl). Around 69 percent of the study population were having normal Hb levels while 31 percent were observed to have anemia as defined by low Hb levels. T–test results indicate that there are significant differences in mean values for all studied anthropometric variables, RCBG with HB groups. The mean RCBG value was significantly higher for the anemia group as compared to the Normal Hb group. Pearson correlation indicated the associations for Hb were positive and highly significant for studied anthropometric variables while the relationship with RCBG was significantly negative. Odd’s ratio indicated that there is a higher risk of 1.8 times for the anemic group to have high RCBG as compared to the normal Hb group. In linear regression analysis, for RCBG values, Hb and Haemaetocrit explained 14.1 % of the variance; while Hb, Haemaetocrit, and Visceral fat together explained 15.7 % of the variance. Conclusion: In the present study, Hemoglobin and hematocrit were identified as useful tools in predicting risk for diabetes even in the young Saudi female population. Diabetes and anemia relationship could be casual. However, future studies with larger sample sizes are required to obtain more conclusive results.