Epidemiological data

Iron deficiency anemia has three main causes, nutrition, absorption, and bleeding. The most prevalent of these three factors is nutrition based. Nutrition based iron deficiency anemia means that individuals are not consuming enough iron rich food. In the United States today nutritional based IDA is very low and almost solely affects infants/toddlers or pregnant women. However, according to the Center for Disease Control's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, iron deficiency anemia affects 43% of children 5 years of age as well as 38% of all women globally. 

Although this disease majorly is age and sex dependent, a study found on the US national Library of medicine website looked at the prevalence of IDA in both men and women in the twenty first century. It found that IDA affects roughly 5% of all women in the United States and only 2% of men.

Another article found on CINAHL by the US Preventive Service Task Force or USPSTF title Screening For Iron Deficiency Anemia in Young Children looked at the best ways to screen children for IDA. The children screened for IDA were between the ages of 6 to 24 months and consisted of those who were asymptomatic. They did not look at children who were less than 6 months old or those older than 24th months. It also left out children who were malnourished or were prematurely born. 

This studied identified that iron deficiency anemia is the most common nutrient deficiency worldwide and contributes to approximately 40% of all anemia cases in the United States. It also found that IDA has a prevalence rate of 1-2% of children ages 1-5 and 2.1% in children 12-35 months old.

picture:http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5140a1.htm

Siu, A. L. (2015). Screening for Iron Deficiency Anemia in Young Children: USPSTF Recommendation Statement. Pediatrics,136(4), 746-752. doi:10.1542/peds.2015-2567

Johnson-Wimbley, T. D., & Graham, D. Y. (2011). Diagnosis and management of iron deficiency anemia in the 21st century. Therapeutic Advances in Gastroenterology, 4(3), 177–184. http://doi.org/10.1177/1756283X11398736