Socio‐economic variables associated with anaemia during pregnancy in Owerri Imo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Malnutrition especially micronutrient deficiency diseases is a public health problem in the developing countries including Nigeria. The study was undertaken to assess the prevalence of anaemia and vitamin A deficiency and the socioeconomic variables associated with it amongst pregnant women in Owerri, Imo State of Nigeria. A cross sectional survey method was used for data collection. A total of 367 pregnant women from Owerri urban were randomly selected. A well structured and validated questionnaire was used to collect information on socioeconomic characteristics and food consumption pattern of the subjects. Haemoglobin, packed cell volume and serum retinol (SR) concentration were determined on a subsample of 70 pregnant women using standard procedures. Spearman's correlation co‐efficient test was used to test for significant differences or relationship between the variables while chi‐square statistical test was used to test for significant differences or relationship in the haemoglobin and vitamin A levels. Results show that three meals per day were mostly (80.28%) consumed and 87% consumed food from more than 5 food groups. The prevalence of anaemia was 30% among the study population and there was a statistically significant association (P≤0.05) between prevalence of anaemia and education of the respondents. About 51.45% had low to deficient levels of serum retinol ((SD). Pearson's correlation coefficient shows that Hb correlated positively with PCV (r =−0.673, p≤0.01) and occupation (r=0.242, p≤0.05). Serum retinol (SR) correlated positively with spacing of pregnancy (r=0.211, p≤0.05) and place where antenatal care was received (r=0.251, p≤0.05). Evidence suggests that pregnant women are at high risks of iron and vitamin A deficiency. Anaemia is manifested by low Hb concentration and vitamin A deficiency by low serum retinol concentrations. There was low Hb and low SR concentrations among the subjects studied so there is need for dietary counseling, dietary diversification and maternal supplementation to improve the iron and vitamin A status of these pregnant women.Support or Funding InformationNo Funding for now