A Cross-Sectional Study of Anaemia among Pregnant Women Visiting ANC Clinic in a Tertiary Care Centre

Abstract

Background- Anaemia is one of the common health issues that pregnant women and children in developing countries face. Anaemia in pregnancy is related to poor fetal and maternal outcomes contributing to significant morbidity and mortality. Anaemia is a treatable and preventable condition. Aim - to determine the prevalence of anaemia among pregnant women visiting the ANC clinic in a tertiary care centre. Materials and methods- Total 100 pregnant women visiting the ANC clinic in a tertiary care centre were included in the study during the period of 5 months (December 2023 to April 2024) at VVP rural hospital, Loni. The World Health Organization's diagnostic criteria for anaemia was applied for determining hemoglobin levels. Demographic details and hemoglobin levels were collected. Data collected was analyzed using Microsoft Excel 2013 and pspp version 1.0.1. Results- Out of total 100 participants, 51 were anaemic. Out of them, 30 (58.8%) women had mild anaemia, 19 (37.3%) women had moderate anaemia and 2 (3.9%) women had severe anaemia. Mean age of women with Anaemia was 23.3 years as opposed to mean age of women without anaemia which was 26.7 years. Out of 51 cases, 10 (19.6%) women were primigravida, 32 (62.7%) women had birth spacing of less than 2 years, 9 (17.7%) women had birth spacing of 2 years or more. Conclusion- Prevalence of anaemia in our study was comparable to NFHS-5 data. There is need of antenatal and pre-conceptional health awareness about implications of anaemia, preventive measures and spacing between births which will reduce prevalence of anaemia, thus maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality.