They discuss factors that affect the reliability to estimate anemia in nutritional surveys

INCAP, december 2021.

Dr. Dora Inés Mazariegos, from the Laboratory of Nutritional Biochemistry, of the Micronutrients Unit of INCAP, participated as an invited speaker by the World Health Organization (WHO) to the technical meeting «WHO technical meeting on the role of infections, inflammation and genetic ancestry as determinants for adjusting haemoglobin cutoffs to define anaemia, and other considerations on blood sampling and analytical methods ».

The presentation by Dr. Mazariegos «Updates on studies for comparative evaluation of blood sampling methods and analytical devices in the measurement of hemoglobin in population surveys - INCAP work» presented on December 1 recently showed the results of INCAP in the Hematological Validation study carried out in Honduras in 2018. This and other INCAP studies have contributed to show the different impact that analytical and pre-analytical factors have on the validity of hemoglobin determination with portable HemoCue-type equipment.

These factors drastically affect the reliability for estimating anemia in nutritional surveys, and it was concluded that technical discussion is necessary to issue recommendations regarding the type of blood sample to be included, verification of the equipment to be used and quality control for its use in the field.

The event, which originated from the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, lasted three days in which presentations by prominent professionals from OMS, CDC, USAID, Medical and Public Health Faculties were presented through a virtual platform. from Universities of Australia, India, Malawi, Gambia, Ethiopia, United States, Mexico and INCAP.