Clinical screening may be a cost-effective way to screen for severe anaemia

Clinical screening for pallor is one of the most common methods of screening for anaemia. Health workers examine the face, inner lower eyelids or conjunctiva, palms, nail beds, and other body parts for paleness or pallor that may be a sign of anaemia. MotherCare found 17 studies that evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of using pallor to identify individuals with anaemia. The focus was to review the sensitivity of pallor screening to detect individuals with severe anaemia and to make recommendations to improve the sensitivity of screening for pallor. The studies confirmed that sensitivities increased as the haemoglobin level decreased.