Prevalence of Anaemia among Pregnant Women at Booking in the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Uyo, Nigeria

Background. Anaemia with an estimated prevalence of 35-75% among pregnant women is a major cause of maternal deaths in Nigeria. Objective. To determine the prevalence of anaemia, associated sociodemographic factors and red cell morphological pattern among pregnant women during booking at the University Teaching Hospital, Uyo. Material and Methods. A cross-sectional analytical study of 400 women at the booking clinic over a 16-week period. The packed cell volume and red cell morphology of each pregnant woman were determined. Their biodata, obstetric and medical histories, and results of other routine investigations were obtained with questionnaires and analyzed with SPSS Package version 17.0. Results. The mean packed cell volume was 31.8% +/- 3.2 and 54.5% of the women were anaemic. The commonest blood picture was microcytic hypochromia and normocytic hypochromia suggesting iron deficiency anaemia. Anaemia was significantly and independently related to a history of fever in the index pregnancy (OR = 0.4;P = 0.00; 95% CI = 0.3-0.7), HIV positive status (OR = 0.2;P = 0.01; 95% CI = 0.1-0.6), and low social class (OR = 0.3;P = 0.00; 95% CI = 0.2-0.7). Conclusion. Women need to be economically empowered and every pregnant woman should be encouraged to obtain antenatal care, where haematinics supplementation can be given and appropriate investigations and treatment of causes of fever and management of HIV can be instituted.