Author(s)

Joseph Adu-Amankwaah¹, Emmanuel Alote Allotey¹, David Annor Kwasie², Innocent Afeke¹, Patrick Kwasi Owiafe¹, Paul Chukwuemeka Adiukwu³, Orish Verner Ndudiri^4*

¹Department of Medical Laboratory Science, School of Allied Health Science, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Ghana.
¹Laboratory Department, Volta Regional Hospital, Ho, Ghana.
²Laboratory Department, Volta Regional Hospital, Ho, Ghana.
³Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, Ho, Ghana.
⁴Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Ghana.

Background: This study aimed at determining the prevalence and morphological types of anaemia, among children under-five years, who had full blood count (FBC) investigation done at the laboratory of the Volta regional hospital. Methodology: This was a retrospective study of archival FBC test results data for children below 5 years in the laboratory, between1^st July to 31^st December 2015. The FBC results comprised of the hemoglobin (Hb) concentration and the red blood cell indices. Obtained data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Results: A total 451 children were sampled. Anaemia prevalence in this study was 55.0% (248/451) and most of the children suffered from moderate anaemia (42%) (104/248) with mild and severe anaemia being 34% (84/248) and 24% (60/248) respectively. Children with microcytic hypochromic anaemia were 52%, (130/248), while those with normocytic normochromic were 25% (63/248). Conclusion: Anaemia was found in more than half of the children under-five years and microcytic hypochromic anaemia was the commonest morphological type of anaemia. There is need for a multi-disciplinary approach to elucidate the etiology of anaemia in children under-five years.

Anaemia, Microcytic Hypochromic Anaemia, Full Blood Count, Red Cell Indices, Nutrition

Adu-Amankwaah, J. , Allotey, E. , Kwasie, D. , Afeke, I. , Owiafe, P. , Adiukwu, P. and Ndudiri, O. (2018) Prevalence and Morphological Types of Anaemia among Children Under-Five Years in the Volta Regional Hospital of Ghana. Open Access Library Journal, 5, 1-10. doi: 10.4236/oalib.1104351.