Medicina Neonatal e Pediátrica

Abstrato

Anemia in Pregnancy and its Outcome at Al-Sadaqa Teaching Hospital Aden, Yemen

Mariam Taher Bin Yahia, Gameela Ali Saeed and Iman Ali Ba-Saddik

Background: Anemia is a global public health problem affecting both developing and developed countries revealing major consequences for human health, social and economic development. The aim of this study was to investigate anemia during pregnancy and its association with birth outcome as low birth weight and preterm birth, and to determine some contributing factors as maternal age, gravidity and antenatal care.

Methods: This study was conducted at Al-Sadaqa Teaching Hospital, Aden from January 1st to December 31st, 2014. Data was collected from the medical records and analyzed using SPSS version 20.

Results: A total number of 2869 pregnant women were enrolled in the data collection where 2478 (86.3%) were documented to be anemic with (Hg<11 g/dl), with 4.9% severe anemia (Hg<7 g/dl), 70.7 % moderate anemia (Hg=7-9.9 g/dl) and 24.4% mild anemia (Hg=10-10.9 g/dl). Women less than 19 years, ≥19 -34 years and >35 years had moderate anemia (71.2%, 70.5%, 71.3%) respectively. A high proportion of them 2271 (79.15%) were from Aden Governorate. Mothers who had moderate anemia with an unfavourable outcome lead to a higher percentage of newborns (78.9%) who died. Rate of death was 1.5%. The mean birth weight of newborns was 3.0 ± 0.5kg and those with low birth weight <2.5 kg comprised (7.5%). Their mean gestational age was 39 ± 2.5 weeks with 8.2% resulting in preterm delivery <37 weeks of gestational age. Mothers who had ≥ 4 gravidity presented with a higher percentage of moderate anemia (73.9%) compared with those <4 gravidity (69%). Pregnant women without antenatal care having moderate anemia comprised (71.8%) compared to those with prenatal care (68.3%). A greater percentage of mothers having no medical disease presented moderate anemia in (71.4%), severe anemia (3.7%) compared with those having other medical diseases revealing moderate anemia in (68.5%) and severe anemia (8.5%).

Conclusions: In the present study, the prevalence of anemia among pregnant women was high in 86.3% with moderate anemia the commonest one. Anemia in pregnancy continues to be a major health problem in Aden, and socio-economic factors may contribute to the situation. Therefore, we should vigorously promote early prenatal care for these at-risk pregnant women.