Prevalence and Pattern of Anaemia amongst pregnant females attending to ANC clinics in a tertiary care hospital in Lucknow.

Dr Mandira Sharma; Dr Meeta Pathak

Volume : VI, Issue : IV, April - 2016

Prevalence and Pattern of Anaemia amongst pregnant females attending to ANC clinics in a tertiary care hospital in Lucknow.

Dr Mandira Sharma, Dr Meeta Pathak

Abstract :

Background: Anaemia is arguably the biggest female health problems in developing countries. The world is still to fully fathom the extent and gravity of the problem. This problem aggravates particularly during and after pregnancies due to increased nutritional demands and inadequate iron supply and is therefore more widespread in parous segments of female population. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of anaemia, associated socio demographic factors and red cell morphological pattern among pregnant women during booking at Career Institute of Medical Sciences and Hospital, Lucknow. Material and Methods: A cross–sectional analytical study of 200 women at the booking clinic over a 16–week period. The packed cell volume and red cell morphology of each pregnant woman were determined. Their bio data, obstetric and medical histories, and results of other routine investigations were obtained with questionnaires and analyzed with SPSS Package version 17.0. Results: The mean packed cell volume was 31.8% ±3.2 and 54.5% of the women were anaemic. The commonest blood picture was microcytic hypochromia and normocytic hypochromia suggesting iron deficiency anaemia. Anaemia was significantly and independently related to a history of fever in the index pregnancy, HIV positive status, and low social class. Conclusion: Women need to be economically empowered and every pregnant woman should be encouraged to obtain antenatal care, where haematinics supplementation can be given and appropriate investigations and treatment of causes of fever and management of HIV can be instituted.