Anaemia is more common in South Asian and Chinese than European women

There is a lack of representative data on anaemia in adults in the UK. On p 958, Fischbacher et al report on a stratified sample of 1889 Newcastle residents of European, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Chinese origin. They found that haemoglobin was lowest in men of European origin and highest in those of Chinese origin, whereas haemoglobin was lower in South Asian and Chinese women than in European women. Anaemia in South Asian and Chinese participants was predominantly microcytic. and though the study lacked confirmatory data, the authors suggest that this may be related to iron deficiency.