INTRODUCTIONOne of the most common disorders associated with nutritional deficiencies is anaemia. It has been estimated by WHO that about one third of the population throughout the world are affected by this disorder.
1Around 14% of the pregnant women in the developed countries and 55% in the developing countries are affected, with 65-75% seen among the pregnant women in the Indian subcontinent.2 This results in severe morbidity and mortality among the women and low birth weight and death among the new born. Many of the women are anaemic before the conception, leading to a prevalence of anaemia among the no pregnant women also which is estimated to be around 50%.
3The prevalence in India is very high and contributes to about 80% of maternal deaths due to anemia in south Asia. This could also be due to size of the population. 4 Anaemia begins in childhood, worsens during adolescence in girls and gets aggravated during pregnancy. Surveys conducted in India have shown that70% of the preschool children were anemic and so were over 70% of the pregnant women and adolescent girls in the country.
5-7The etiology of anemia during pregnancy among women in developing countries is multifactorial and varies by geographic region. Hence this study was conducted to assess the prevalence of anemia among the pregnant women in our geographical area along with the outcome.
ABSTRACTBackground: One of the most common disorders associated with nutritional deficiencies is anaemia. The etiology of anemia during pregnancy among women in developing countries is multifactorial and varies by geographic region. Hence this study was conducted to assess the prevalence of anemia among the pregnant women in our geographical area along with the outcome. Methods: The patients age, weight, BMI, parity, etc were noted and blood was collected for blood investigations which included random sugar levels, complete blood picture apart feom haemoglobin levels. Hemoglobin was calculated by Sahli's method and classified according to the WHO classification for pregnant women. Results: The predominant age group of the 486 patients was 20-24 years, followed by 25-29 years. 291 out of the 486 patients (59.9%) were anemic and 40.1% of the patients were non anemic. 19.8% of the patients had mild anemia, 33.3% of the patients had moderate anemia, and 6.8% of the patients had severe anemia. Conclusions: Information and interaction, and good nutritional diet and medication is important to reduce the incidences of anemia and thereby the morbidity and mortality associated with it.