Correlation of Maternal Anemia with Sonographic Placental Thickness

Abstract

Background: Anemia is a condition in which hemoglobin (Hb) concentration and/or red blood cell (RBC) numbers are lower than normal and insufficient to meet an individual's physiological needs, it affects roughly one-third of the world's population.Objective: To correlate the maternal anemia with placental thickness ultrasonographically.Methodology: Toshiba Nemio17 with Convex array transducer 3-5 MHz frequency was used. Patient were in spine position. Measurements of placental thickness were performed in the mid portion of the placenta, perpendicular to its long axis. The study was conducted at Gillani Ultrasound Centre and Mansoorah Teaching Hospital Lahore. Data of 110 patients was collected through cross-sectional, analytical study. Convenient Sampling Technique was used to analyze data. Statistical software for social sciences (SPSS version 22.0) is used for the analysis of data.Results: Out of 110 patients 44.5% patients were in 2 nd trimester and 55.5% patients were in their 3 rd trimester. In our study 26.4% patients had normal hemoglobin, 43.6% patients were diagnosed with moderate anemia and 30% patients were diagnosed with mild anemia. Hemoglobin rates varied between 7 g/dL to 15.40 g/dL. Placental thickness varied between 10.50mm and to 56.50mm. 9 patients had normal placental thickness, 89 had thick placenta and 12 had thin placenta. In 2 nd trimester minimum placental thickness was noted 15.7 mm and maximum placental thickness was 47.2 mm. In 3 rd trimester minimum placental thickness was noted as 10.5 mm and maximum thickness 56.5 mm. In normal placental thickness minimum hemoglobin was noted as 7 g/dL and maximum was 15.5 g/dL. In thick placenta minimum hemoglobin noted was; 7.8 g/dL and maximum hemoglobin was 15.4 g/dL. In thin placental thickness minimum hemoglobin was 8.9 g/dL and maximum was 11.2 g/dl. Majority patients came with hemoglobin rates between 8 to 11 (g/dL) and less than 5 patients came with hemoglobin 7 g/dL. In patients with mild anemia mean placental thickness was 30.57 mm. In patients with moderate anemia had mean placental thickness of 33.72 mm and in patients with normal anemia had mean placental thickness of 30.39 mm. Out of 110 patients, 29 had no anemia and from these 3 patients were found with normal placental thickness 4 with thick placenta and 2 were with thin. 81 patients who were diagnosed with anemia had normal placental thickness in 6 patients, 65 had thick placenta and 10 patients were found with thick placenta.Conclusion:We concluded that, maternal anemia has adverse effects on placental thickness and gestational age. In the present study we found that morphological and histological changes in placenta of anemic mother is undertaken, to study the effects of anemia on morphology of placenta and fetal outcomes.