Prevalence of anemia risk factors in pregnant women in Kerman, Iran

Background: Anemia in pregnancy is associated with increased rates of maternal and perinatal mortality.Objective: To study the prevalence and risk factors of women with anemia during pregnancy in Kerman, Iran.Materials and Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was performed based on 2213 pregnancies delivered during the years 2005-2007 in Kerman, Iran. Women with hemoglobinopathies such as thalassemia were excluded from analysis. Anemia was defined as hemoglobin (Hg) lower than 11 g/dl during pregnancy. Categorical variables were compared using the chi-square or Fisher’s exact test.Results: Overall, 104 (4.7%) women were anemic (Hg<11g/dl), out of which 4.8% had severe anemia (Hg<7g/dl), 15.4 % had moderate anemia (Hg=7-8.9 g/dl) and 79.8% had mild anemia (Hg=9-10.9 g/dl). The frequency of anemia were 5%, 3.4% and 5.7% in the first, second and third trimester, respectively. Multiparity was associated with lower hemoglobin concentration during the second/third trimester of pregnancy (p=0.03 and p<0.001, respectively). Prevalence of anemia was significantly higher in smokers and opium users (p=0.01 and p=0.003, respectively).Conclusion: Our study showed that prevalence of anemia was not high in this study. Factors associated with anemia during pregnancy were parity, smoking, opium use and not using Iron supplement.

کلیدواژه ها:

Anemia ، Prevalence ، Pregnancy ، Risk factors