Objective To determine the prevalence and type of anaemia and its
association with pre-eclampsia (PE) in pregnant South Africans of
African ancestry. Design Cross-sectional study design Setting A regional
hospital in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Sample 671 women seeking
antenatal care. Methods Participants had haemoglobin(Hb), anthropometric
measurements, HIV status, blood pressure levels(BP) and proteinuria
measured to determine PE. Iron studies and transferrin receptor levels
were assessed in a subset and chi-square tests of association between
normotensive and pre-eclampsia sub-groups and blood parameters were
conducted. Results No difference in Hb concentration amongst the 4
groups (F (3,621)=0.981, p< .001, η2=.014) was observed. A
chi-square test of association (χ2(3)=6.674, p=.083) showed no
associations between study groups and having anaemia. The severity of
anaemia did not vary amongst study groups (χ2(12) =10.756, p=.550).
Using ferritin, there was an association between the study groups having
an iron deficiency, anaemia, both or neither (χ2(3)=12.559, p=.045) with
a positive association between normotensive term and iron deficiency
(adjusted residual(AR) 2.2) and positive association between early-onset
PE(AR 2.4). Similar trends were found for transferrin and soluble
transferrin receptor ferritin index. Twenty-two percent of the
participants were not iron deficient. Conclusion Early-onset PE is
associated with high iron status and not anaemia. Normotensive term
pregnancies were associated with iron deficiency anaemia. Broad iron
supplementation without adequate determination of iron deficiency in
pregnant women needs to be revisited. Funding National Research
Foundation (TTK170508230162), University of KwaZulu-Natal UCPD and
Medical Research Council of South Africa(SIR Grant UNS14197). Keywords
Anaemia, iron deficiency, pre-eclampsia