Research Article Prevalence of Anemia and Associated Factors among Newly Diagnosed Patients with Solid Malignancy at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Radiotherapy Center, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Edosa Kifle , 1 Mintewab Hussein, 2 Jemal Alemu, 2 and Wondemagegnhu Tigeneh 3 1 Wollega University, Institute of Health Science, Department of Medical Laboratory Science, P.O. Box: 395, Nekemte, Ethiopia 2 Addis Ababa University, School of allied Health Science, Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 3 Addis Ababa University, Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Radiotherapy Center, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Correspondence should be addressed to Edosa Kifle; edosalab2@gmail.com Received 3 April 2019; Revised 13 July 2019; Accepted 31 July 2019; Published 20 October 2019 Academic Editor: Bashir A. Lwaleed Copyright © 2019 Edosa Kifle et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background. Anemia is a common finding in cancer, which is caused by many factors. It is a major cause of morbidity in cancer patients, worsens disease status and impairs treatment outcome; however, little is known about the prevalence of anemia and associated factors among cancer patients during diagnosis in developing countries like Ethiopia. In response to this, we have conducted research with the aim of assessing the prevalence of anemia and associated factors among newly diagnosed patients with solid malignancy at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital (TASH), Radiotherapy center, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods. Descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from April to May 2014. A total of 422 newly diagnosed patients with solid malignancy attending Radiotherapy center, TASH were enrolled to assess anemia prevalence and associated factors. Data were coded, entered and analyzed using SPSS version16. Using logistic regression, chi squares, Odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals were computed to measure strength of association between variables. -value < 0.05 was taken as statistically significant. Result. Out of 422 respondents, 285 (68%) were females and 153 (36%) of respondents fell into 35–49 age group with age range between 18 and 80 years and the median age of 45. Magnitude of solid cancers was gynecologic (28.9%), breast (22.7%), nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) (7.6%), colorectal (7.1%), sarcoma (6.9%), head and neck (4.5%), thyroid (3.3%), hepatoma (1.9%), and others (17.1%). e overall prevalence of anemia across different tumor was 23% and higher anemia prevalence was noted in gynecologic (37.7%) and colorectal carcinomas (26.7%). e majority of the anemic patients (68%) remained untreated for anemia. e mean trigger hemoglobin for transfusion was 7.7 g/dl. About 83.5% of anemia was mild to moderate type. Performance status (AOR = 3.344; 95% CI 1.410–7.927) and bleeding history (AOR = 3.628; 95% CI 1.800–7.314) showed statistically significant association with occurrence of anemia with  -value < 0.05. Conclusion. Among solid cancers, gynecologic cancer remained the dominant one. Anemia prevalence was 23% in general, in which gynecologic and colorectal cancers were more prevalent. ECOG performance status and bleeding history showed a statistically significant association with the occurrence of anemia. 1. Background Anemia is a condition that develops when there is no sufficient healthy red blood cell, which is characterized either by a reduc- tion in HGB, RBC or HCT count below normal levels [1–4]. As per the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guideline, anemia is defined as HGB ≤ 11 g/dl or ≥ 2 g/dl below the baseline. Cancer is one of the most frequent conditions associated with anemia of chronic disease; meantime, anemia is a common complication of cancer [5]. e estimated prevalence of anemia varies ranging from 30% to 90% of can- cer patients during the course of their diseases [2, 5, 6]. Cancer-related anemia may occur as a direct effect of neo- plasm, by the sensitization of the immune system, or as a result of the cancer treatment whether surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy [7, 8]. Cancer itself can directly cause or exac- erbate anemia either by suppressing hematopoiesis through bone marrow infiltration or production of cytokines that lead to iron sequestration, inhibit release and synthesis of endog- enous erythropoietin, reduce the response of erythroid Hindawi Advances in Hematology Volume 2019, Article ID 8279789, 8 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/8279789