Efficacy of intravenous versus oral iron in the treatment of anaemia in pregnancy-A comparative study

Abstract

Introduction: One of the most common medical problems in pregnancy is iron deficiency anemia throughout the developing world1-5 with the burden of disease impacting in both mother and newborn. Anaemia affects nearly half of all the pregnant women in the world. Data shows that it affects approximately 52% patients in the developing and 23% patients in the developed world. Materials and Methods: A prospective study conducted on pregnant women in 26 to 34 weeks of gestation which comes under inclusion criteria. Duration of the study was 18 months.100 patients were taken 50 in each group, Blood indices such as Hb, MCV, serum ferritin, reticulocyte count and adverse drug reactions were compared. Results and Conclusion: Both intravenous and oral iron supplements were associated with increment of blood indices although rise was significantly higher intravenous group. Also intravenous iron is better tolerated compared to oral group. Thus, it can be concluded that IV iron therapy is much more effective in improving iron deficiency in pregnancy than oral. Keywords: Pregnancy, Hemoglobin, Iron sucrose, Iron deficiency anemia, Oral ferrous sulphate.