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Global, regional and national burdens of iron deficiency anemia in women of childbearing age from 1990 to 2021: an analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2026)Cite this article

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Abstract

Background

Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) remains a major public health concern for women of childbearing age (15–49 years) worldwide. This study aimed to analyze the global, regional, and national burden and trends of IDA in this population from 1990 to 2021, evaluate its association with socioeconomic development, and project future trends up to 2040.

Methods

Based on data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2021 study, this study extracted epidemiological metrics of IDA among women of childbearing age from 1990 to 2021. Core indicators, such as prevalence rates and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), were analyzed to assess temporal trends in disease burden. Statistical analyses were conducted to calculate the estimated annual percentage change (EAPC) and age-standardized rates (ASR). The association between disease burden and development levels was assessed using the sociodemographic index (SDI).

Results

Globally, the age-standardized prevalence rate (ASPR) of IDA showed a declining trend, with an EAPC of –0.11 (95% confidence interval [CI]: –0.13, –0.08). Although the absolute number of DALYs increased from 18.01 million to 22.93 million, the age-standardized DALY rate decreased from 668.3 to 598 per 100,000 population, with an EAPC of –0.37 (95% CI: –0.39, –0.34). High SDI regions experienced significant reductions in IDA burden, whereas low SDI regions showed slower improvement.

Conclusion

Although the global burden of IDA among women of childbearing age has declined, regional disparities persist; high SDI regions have progressed, while low SDI regions still face a growing disease burden, underscoring the need for targeted and equitable interventions.

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Fig. 1
Fig. 2: Global burden of disease for IDA among women of childbearing age in 204 countries and territories.
Fig. 3: Change in cases of IDA for both sexes in 204 countries and territories.
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

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Data availability

The datasets used and analyzed in this study are available from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2021 study, which can be accessed online via the Global Health Data Exchange (GHDx) query tool (http://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool).

Code availability

All the codes used to generate the core results of this study have been provided as supplementary materials (Supplementary Materials) and are available for download and verification. The codes were written based on R (4.2.2). The codes are restricted for use in this study only. If you need to use them for other purposes, please contact the author for permission.

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Acknowledgements

We extend our gratitude to the contributors of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2021 for their invaluable work. We also express our sincere appreciation to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) for making the GBD data available for this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Xi’an No. 3 Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Northwest University, Xi’an, China

    Beijian Song

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  1. Beijian Song
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Contributions

SB: Conceptualization, Software, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing-original draft, Writing review and editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Beijian Song.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethical approval

Ethical approval was not required for the studies involving humans because the datasets analyzed for this study can be found in the public datasets GBD 2021. The studies were conducted in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. Written informed consent for participation was not required from the participants or the participants’ legal guardians/next of kin in accordance with the national legislation and institutional requirements because the datasets analyzed for this study can be found in the public datasets GBD 2021.

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Song, B. Global, regional and national burdens of iron deficiency anemia in women of childbearing age from 1990 to 2021: an analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study. Eur J Clin Nutr (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-026-01728-z

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