Anaemia among Pregnant Women: Prevalence and Pattern at Booking Clinic of a Tertiary Health Care Facility in North Central Nigeria

A. C. Ekpe, S. A. Adefemi, M. D. Pemi

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Anaemia in pregnancy is an important
reproductive health problem associated with increased maternal
and perinatal morbidity and mortality. Despite the use of iron
and folate supplementation, anti-helminthic and anti-malarial
prophylaxis for pregnant women in Nigeria’s antenatal policy,
the prevalence of anaemia is still high.
The objective of this study is to determine the prevalence, and
pattern of anaemia among pregnant women at booking for
antenatal care at Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Bida.

SUBJECT AND METHODS: This is a cross- sectional study
carried out over a period of three (3) months among pregnant
women booking for Antenatal Care (ANC) at FMC, Bida. Two
hundred and forty eight (248) pregnant women were recruited
using systematic sampling method. Data collected were
analyzed using SPSS Version 20.

RESULTS: The mean age group of the respondents was
27.49±5.5 years with age range of 16 to 40 years. About half of
the respondents had secondary education, (49.2%) and about
a third of the respondents were Traders (34.6%) whose
husbands earn <N==50,000 (47.6%). Majority of the subjects 132
(53.2%) were in the lower social class. The prevalence of anaemia
in pregnancy in this study was 72.6% with mild anaemia (58.3%)
constituting majority of the cases. Based on International
Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) classification
128(51.6%) had poor, 94 (37.9%) had fair, while 26(10.5%) had
good nutritional status

CONCLUSION: Prevalence of anaemia is quite high and had
worsened compared to the earlier studies carried out in 2008.
There is need for preconception counseling and screening,
early antenatal booking, proper management of febrile illnesses
in pregnancy, routine deworming and fortification of stable
foods with iron, in order to prevent anemia during pregnancy.
WAJM 2022; 39(3): 228–236.

Keywords: Anaemia, Pregnancy, Prevalence, Pattern.