Prevalence of anemia among coronavirus disease 2019 patients in Ethiopia: A meta-analysis

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, impacting various systems in the human body, including the hematological and reticuloendothelial systems, which can alter blood production. Consequently, severe anemia-associated complications could occur in COVID-19 patients. At present, there is a lack of pooled prevalence data on anemia among COVID-19 patients in Ethiopia. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to determine the overall prevalence of anemia in this population. Following PRISMA guidelines, we conducted a literature search across PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, HINARI, and the Ethiopian Journal of Health Development for articles published before 2024. Additional manual searches were performed to identify relevant studies. Study selection, data extraction, and quality assessment were conducted independently by the authors. The I2 test statistics were used to assess heterogeneity among studies, and the overall prevalence was calculated using a random-effect restricted maximum likelihood model. Out of 860 studies obtained, 11 articles were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence of anemia among COVID-19 patients in Ethiopia was found to be 22.81% (95% CI [confidence interval]: 14.76 – 30.85%). Specifically, the prevalence of anemia in Addis Ababa and Amhara was 27.13% (95% CI: 14.59 – 39.66%) and 22.50% (95% CI: 11.04 – 33.96%), respectively. This study indicates that anemia is a moderate public health problem among COVID-19 patients in Ethiopia. Consequently, it is imperative to implement preventative interventions and management strategies for anemia in this population.