Questionnaire for early detection of occult anemia

Background/Aims: Anemia is a common condition that is often missed. We aimed to devise a question-naire for detection of occult anemia. Methodology: A questionnaire survey was done of 442 new gastroenterology outpatients to deteck potential symptoms of anemia. Then hematology tests were performed and anemia was defined by World Health Organization criteria, Data were analyzed by the stepwise logistic regression method to determine adjusted odds ratios and extract relevant items. After further selection of variables, the sensitivity and specificity of three potential question-naires were analyzed using receiver operating characteristie curves. Results: Seven items were selected and a new questionnaire was devised to detect occult anemia. It showed a sensitivity of 70% and also a specficity of 70% when back-tested on the subjects. Conclusions: This new questionnaire may be useful for detecting occult anemia.