Abstract

Background: despite the modern society and available healthy food, iron deficiency anemia is common in Saudi Arabia woman. Iron deficiency anemia is very common in women due to many risk factors like heavy menses and eating food that is not rich in iron. Knowing the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia and its associated risk factors in Saudi Arabia can provide a useful knowledge in avoiding these risk factors and improving the overall health. Objectives: Iron deficiency anemia is increasingly common worldwide. This study aims to assess the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia and its associated risk factors in women in Saudi Arabia. Methods: Across-sectional study on the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia was randomly carried out among women (1638 participants) in different social media platforms of Saudi Arabia during the period from February to April 2018. Results: In 43.5% of the participants have been suffering from iron deficiency anemia, only 10.1% had a blood transfusion as a consequence of the anemia, 42.6% have sought medical help, 32.8% had heavy menses, 48.5% had a positive family history of iron deficiency anemia, only 15.4% had hypothyroidism disease, 57.2% don’t eat iron rich food and only 7.9% were pregnant. Conclusion: Our result showed that huge number of the participants was suffering from iron deficiency anemia in Saudi Arabia.

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