Abstract:OBJECTIVE To examine the prevalence and influencing factors of anemia in young children aged from 6 to 36 months in Bao’ an District, so as to provide evidence for primary care physicians to prevent anemia. METHODS A current investigation was conducted to collect 355 valid questionnaires from young children aged 6-36 months. Potential predictions included sex, month age, gestational age, parents' educational background, family monthly income, supplementary food addition time, the type of supplementary food added for the first time, and the main caregivers. We identified significant predictors with Chi-squared tests (crude associations) and a Multivariable Logistic Regression Model (adjusted associations). RESULTS The incidence rate of anemia inchildren aged from 6-36 months in our study was 19.2%. The incidence of anemia in infants aged 6-12 months was the highest (23.3%), followed by children aged 13-24 months (9.1%), and the incidence of anemia in young children aged 25-36 months was the lowest (P=0.005). The risk of anemia decreased with age. When adding supplementary food for the first time, infants and young children who added other supplementary foods (ordinary rice flour, fruit, eggs and others) were more prone to anemia than those with fortified iron rice flour ordinary rice noodles. Compared with infants with parents as primary caregivers, infants with grandparents as primary caregivers were not prone to anemia. CONCLUSIONS The incidence rate of anemia in infants aged 6-36 months in Bao’an District is lower than that reported in the world, but higher than that in Pudong District of Shanghai. The peak period of anemia occurred in infants and young children at the age of 6-12 months. With the increase of age, the incidence of infant anemia decreases, unscientific addition of supplementary food is easy to cause infant anemia. Grandparents / grandparents are the main caregivers of infants and young children are not prone to anemia.