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Microbes & Immunity Anemia among COVID-19 patients in Ethiopia

Table 1. Characteristics of the included studies in systematic review and meta‑analysis
References Study year Study design Sample size Study area Cases Prevalence (%)
12 2020 Prospective cohort 136 Amhara 18 13.24
13 2020 Prospective cross-sectional 334 Addis Ababa 83 24.9
14 2022 Retrospective cross-sectional 253 Amhara 85 33.6
15 2021 Comparative cross-sectional 319 Addis Ababa 135 42.3
16 2022 Retrospective cohort 126 Addis Ababa 47 37.3
17 2021 Retrospective cross-sectional 240 Addis Ababa 37 14.42
18 2021 Prospective cohort 40 Addis Ababa 17 42.5
19 2020 Retrospective cohort 429 Addis Ababa 23 5.36
20 2022 Retrospective cohort 318 Oromia 13 4.08
21 2021 Retrospective cohort 452 Amhara 94 20.79
22 2022 Multicenter retrospective cohort 489 Amhara, Oromia, and Addis Ababa 94 19.22

Table 2. Meta‑regression of selected variables affecting
the prevalence of anemia among COVID‑19 patients in
Ethiopia: systematic review and meta‑analysis

Source of Coefficients Standard P‑value
heterogenicity error
Study period 23.42 609.38 0.970
Study design 23.87 4.33 0.000
Study area 23.57 4.18 0.000

were found to be a source of heterogenicity in which the
P-value was below 0.05 (Table 2).

3.6. Sensitivity analysis
Figure 2. Analysis of publication bias for the studies on the prevalence Sensitivity analysis was used to determine whether
of anemia among coronavirus disease 2019 patients in Ethiopia individual studies had an impact on the pooled effect size.
Abbreviation: CI: Confidence interval.
As demonstrated, no single study significantly influenced
Oromia to 42.5% among 40 COVID-19 patients in Addis the total estimate of anemia among COVID-19-infected
Ababa. A meta-analysis of eight studies using the random- patients. After removing one study at a time, all effect
effects REML model found the overall prevalence of anemia sizes ranged from 14.76% to 30.75%, and the pooled effect
among COVID-19 patients in Ethiopia to be 22.81% (95% size remained within the CI of the total estimate. This
CI: 14.76 – 30.85%) (Figure 3). shows that our results were not driven by any single study
(Figure 4).
We conducted a subgroup analysis by stratifying the
data based on region. The prevalence of anemia among 4. Discussion
COVID-19 patients in Addis Ababa and Amhara was
found to be 27.13% (95% CI: 14.59 – 39.66%) and 22.50% The prevalence of anemia ranged from 5.63% to 42.5%. The
(95% CI: 11.04 – 33.96%), respectively (Figure S2). highest prevalence of anemia was reported in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, in 2021. The lowest prevalence was also reported
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3.5. Meta-regression in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 2020. In this study, we
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Meta-regression was performed to identify the sources aimed to estimate the overall prevalence of anemia among
of heterogeneity between the studies. In this systematic COVID-19 patients in Ethiopia by reviewing available
review and meta-analysis, meta-regression was performed studies. The overall prevalence of anemia was found to be
by study design, study area, and study period to evaluate 22.81% (95% CI: 14.76 – 30.85%), which is in line with a
whether these variables are sources of heterogeneity similar study conducted in Kenya where the prevalence
between the studies. Thus, the study design and study area was 25%. According to the WHO’s classification, anemia
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Volume 2 Issue 2 (2025) 121 doi: 10.36922/mi.3504