Body Mass Index and its Relationship with Hematological Indices in Iranian Women

Abstract: Obesity is an important risk factor for many chronic diseases, BMI is an indicator for total body fat determination. Reports in Iran indicate that nearly 20 % of middle age persons are obese and 40 % are overweight. Other studies also reported iron deficiency anemia in women Obese women appear to have greater iron stores than do nonobese women. This cross-sectional survey consisted 1049 non pregnant-non lactating 15-49 years old women living in East Azarbaijan (Iran) which selected as random clustering suggested. Demographic Data was collected by questionnaire. Body weight and height was measured. Hb, Hct and MCV were measured in the fasting state. Means of age, parity was 28.8 and 3.94 respectively. The subjects were divided into quartiles of age, weight, BMI and childbearing number. Analysis of these classifications showed that means of Hb and Hct were significantly different between BMI quartiles and only Hct was significantly different between weight quartiles (p < 0.05). Discussion: Policy implications might include the development and implementation of programs to prevent excessive gestational weight gain and promote postpartum weight loss via dietary change and physical activity, concomitant with exclusive breast feeding. Because iron deficiency and excess are both probably undesirable, it would be of great help to identify more precisely populations at risk of iron deficiency; iron supplementation could then be more personalized. Key words: Body mass index, women, Iron deficiency and anemi