Iron deficiency anaemia is still a major killer of pregnant women

Objective: To observe the effects of iron deficiency anaemia on the health and life of pregnant women.

Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Unit IV, Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences Jamshoro from 1st June 2015 to 30th November 2015, for the period of 6 months. During this study period all the pregnant women from 13-40 weeks of pregnancy with iron deficiency anaemia having haemoglobin level less than 9 gram% were included, while the pregnant women with other medical disorders were excluded from the study. The data was collected and analyzed on SPSS version 21.

Result: Out of the 305 pregnant registered women with iron deficiency anaemia most women were young 170(55.73%) between 20-30 years, belonged to low socioeconomic group 254(83.27%), they were multiparous 104(34.09%), having very low haemoglobin level between 1-3 gram % in 54(17.70%) women and between 4-6gram% in162 (53.11%) women. These women were prone to high complications such as ante partum haemorrhage 49(16.06%), renal failure 48(15.73%), disseminated intravascular coagulation 54(17.70%) and 16(5.24%) women died.

Conclusion: Iron deficiency anaemia is common in pregnant women with higher rates of complications.