Demographic and Health Surveys Methodology - Measure DHS

CHILDREN’S AND WOMEN’S NUTRITIONAL STATUSWOMEN’S ANEMIA STATUSStatistics: Percentages of Women between Ages 15 and 49 Years, by Anemia StatusDefinitionA. Coverage:Population base: Women of all marital status age 15–49 years at the time of the survey.Time period: Current status at the time of the survey.B. Numerators:1. Any anemia: Number of not pregnant women whose hemoglobin count is less than 12 gramsper deciliter (g/dl) plus number of pregnant women whose count is less than 11 g/dl.2. Mild anemia: Number of not pregnant women whose hemoglobin count is between 10.0 and11.9 grams per deciliter (g/dl) plus number of pregnant women whose count is between 10.0and 10.9 g/dl.3. Moderate anemia: Number of women pregnant or not whose hemoglobin count is between7.0 and 9.9 grams per deciliter (g/dl).4. Severe anemia: Number of women pregnant or not whose hemoglobin count is less than7.0 grams per deciliter (g/dl).C. Denominator: Number of women between age 15 and 49 years at time of survey.CalculationA. At the time of creation of a recode file, an adjustment of the hemoglobin count is made foraltitude. Rather than change the cutoff points, the effective hemoglobin count is lowered asaltitude increases, since oxygen is less available. The adjustment is made with the followingformulas:adjust = – 0.032*alt + 0.022*alt 2adjHb = Hb – adjustwhere adjust is the amount of the adjustment, alt is altitude in 1,000 feet (converted from metersby dividing by 1,000 and multiplying by 3.3), adjHb is the adjusted hemoglobin level, and Hb isthe measured hemoglobin level in grams per deciliter. No adjustment is made for altitudes below1,000 meters.Guide to DHS Statistics 140 Updated October 2012