Global burden of anemia by age. Anemia burden by age for (A) prevalence and (B) total YLD. Those younger than age 5 years had the highest prevalence and total YLD from anemia. These age groups also had the least favorable changes between 1990 and 2010. Females had higher prevalence and total YLD than males at all ages. While anemia prevalence for females decreased steadily with age, anemia prevalence increased in older age groups among males. As demonstrated by steady decreases in total YLD, however, those prevalent cases among males tended to be less severe. Improvements in anemia prevalence and total YLD for males between 1990 and 2010 were more substantial than those for females although not statistically significant.