PREVALENCE OF AND PREGNANCY OUTCOME IN SINGLETON MOTHERS WITH ANAEMIA: A SURVEY CARRIED OUT IN PORT HARCOUT, SOUTH-SOUTH NIGERIA

PREVALENCE OF AND PREGNANCY OUTCOME IN SINGLETON MOTHERS WITH ANAEMIA: A SURVEY CARRIED OUT IN PORT HARCOUT, SOUTH-SOUTH NIGERIA

Abstract

INTRODUCTION
Anaemia is the commonest pregnancy complication worldwide. Anaemia in
pregnancy is a leading cause of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality
especially in developing countries. It is a medical condition that is usually
preventable through public health interventions, which are often feasible and cost
effective. In order to strengthen the understanding of the disease as well as the
planning for the management of patients, this study sought to ascertain the
prevalence of anaemia in pregnancy as well as the outcome of singleton
pregnancies that are complicated by maternal anaemia at the University of Port
Harcourt Teaching Hospital, in South-South Nigeria.
OBJECTIVE
The overall goal of this study was to determine the prevalence of anaemia in
pregnancy and the outcome of pregnancy complicated by maternal anaemia with
regards to gestational age at delivery, fetal birth weight and apgar scores amongst
women with singleton pregnancies attending antenatal clinic at the University of Port
Harcourt Teaching Hospital, South – South Nigeria.
METHODOLOGY
The study was a prospective survey of 430 pregnant women attending the
antenatal clinic at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital.
Participants were consecutive patients with singleton pregnancies booking for
antenatal care who gave consent to be recruited for the study. Participants were
enrolled at their booking antenatal visit and monitored through pregnancy till delivery.
Haemoglobin concentration was used to assess the level of anaemia while
Haemoglobin genotype, blood film for red cell morphology and presence of malaria
parasites, Urinalysis and Urine Microscopy/culture were used to assess clinical
correlates of anaemia.
Proforma designed for the purpose was used to obtain demographic
information as well as outcome measures.
Statistical analysis of results was done using EPI-Info software package.
OUTCOME
This study revealed that the prevalence of maternal anaemia at the University
of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital using the WHO definition of less than 11g/dl is
73.5% at booking and 47.9% at delivery. Defining anaemia as haemoglobin less than
10g/dl, 34.0% of the clients were anaemic at booking and 10.9% at delivery.
It also highlighted the effect of routine Haematinics and antenatal care on
haemoglobin levels in that the severity of anaemia at booking was greatly reduced
by the time of delivery such that only 10.9% of parturients had moderate anaemia
compared to 39.5% of clients at booking. The study also showed that the incidence
of low birth weight babies and preterm deliveries in women with anaemia in
pregnancy was not statistically different from that of parturients with normal
haemoglobin levels. The only stillbirths recorded in this study were in patients with
moderate anaemia.

PREVALENCE OF AND PREGNANCY OUTCOME IN SINGLETON MOTHERS WITH ANAEMIA: A SURVEY CARRIED OUT IN PORT HARCOUT, SOUTH-SOUTH NIGERIA

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