Prevalence of anemia in pregnancy and its outcome in rural Tertiary Care Centre in India

Abstract

Anemia in pregnancy is a major health problem in developing countries. Haemorrhage ranks first in the list of maternal mortality in developing countries. Materials and Methods: A prospective study on all anaemic pregnant patients (according to WHO) admitted to labour room of more than 28 weeks gestational age from May 2015 to May 2017 in Sri Siddhartha Medical College, Tumkur were included in the study and appropriately treated. Demographic factors like age, education, socioeconomic status, parity, birth spacing and intake of iron supplements was studied. Maternal and perinatal outcome was also studied. Results: Among 2982 deliveries, 32 cases were excluded according to exclusion criteria. About 1903 were found to be anemic. In these cases, 61% were in 20-24yrs age group, 35% patients educated upto middle school, 71% belonged to low socioeconomic status, 62.1% had less than 2 years of birth spacing. All these factors were statistically significant. But 38% cases had not received iron supplements. Although mild anemia cases were uneventful, moderate and severe anaemia cases had maternal complications. In moderate anemia, 4% patients had PPH and received blood and blood products, 10 % had puerperial fever and rest uneventful. Severe anemia had significant outcome: preterm labour (38%), preeclampsia (20%), IUGR (10%), intrauterine fetal demise (8%), abruption placenta (7%), placenta previa (1%), puerperal fever (7.2%), cardiac failure (0.8%), PPH (8%). Maternal mortality was noted in 3 patients. About 35 neonates of mild anaemic cases,65 neonates of moderate anaemic cases and nearly 46.5% of severe anaemia cases had complications. Conclusion: Prevalence of anemia is most common in rural population. Demographic factors also play a very important role. Effective management of anemia cases definitely prevents maternal and perinatal mortality. Keywords: Severe anaemia, Demographic factors, Maternal mortality, Perinatal mortality.