Prevalence and severity of anemia in pregnant women visiting Dhiraj Hospital

Abstract

Objective: Anemia is the most common nutritional disease in the world and is the major health problem affecting 25-50% of the world's population and nearly 50% of pregnant women. Anemia is one of the important deciding factors for outcome of pregnancy. Anemia during pregnancy is one of the major public health problems in the world especially in the developing countries and is directly responsible for 20% maternal death. The major objective of the present study is to determine the prevalence and severity of anemia among pregnant women visiting Dhiraj Hospital in Vadodara and to find out factors associated with anemia. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted at Dhiraj Hospital, a constituent hospital of S.B.K.S. Medical Institute and Research Center, Vadodara. Hematological data of all the pregnant women coming for ante-natal checkup (ANC) from 1 st June 2019 to 30 th June 2019 was collected from records maintained by Central Laboratory and was analyzed. Severity of anemia was classified according to W.H.O. grading criteria. Results: Total of 894 pregnant women were registered for ANC from 1 st June 2019 to 30 th June 2019; 228 cases (25.5%) were found to be in normal hemoglobin range. Prevalence of anemia was found to be 74.4% with 666 cases among which 430 cases (48.1%) were mild form, 211 (23.6%) cases were moderate form and 25 cases (2.8%) were of severe form with hemoglobin <7 gm/dl. Conclusion: Preconception care and care during pregnancy including iron and folic acid supplementation is to be instituted to reduce the burden of this public health problem. Early antenatal registration & care and measures taken at different stages of pregnancy are necessary for early diagnosis and treatment of anemia during pregnancy to ensure safe motherhood and reduce the prevalence of anemia during pregnancy.