Severity of Anemia and its association with Socio-Demographic characteristics in pregnant women of rural areas DR. AMMARA ZAIDI MBBS, (Masters in maternal & child health) Texila American university guyana campus

Summary Maternal anaemia is big leading factor to mortality & morbidity in both the unborn child & the mother, which is most common in our country specially in rural areas. According to our study there are multiple factors are responsible like as; Multi-gravity, low socioeconomic status, inadequate dietary intake, absent of Iron and Folate Supplements and over load of work noted significantly associated with severity of anemia in pregnant women. P-value 0.001

So what? Data in literature exhibited that hardly few studies published in Pakistan regarding socio-demographic factors effects on anaemia during pregnancy especially in rural area. importance behind this research is providing valuable data, which would assist in detecting possible fields for particular intervention for improvement in reproductive health.

Background Anemia, characterized as a reduced Hb level in blood. Anemia during pregnancy is a chief reason of mortality & morbidity of pregnant females among under developed nations as well as has both fetal & maternal effects.6,7 It is approximated that anemia leads to above 115 thousand maternal & 591 thousand perinatal mortalities around the world annually.8 As per WHO, approximates of the worldwide burden of mortalities attributed to anaemia in females of reproductive age varies through 16800 ̶ 28000 per annum along a higher risk of anaemia associated mortality among younger females. Majority of the studies published, are from tertiary and secondary health care centers. It is clearly a problem to reasonable distribution of sources directed toward enhancing maternal health at various health care units. Data in literature exhibited that hardly few studies published in Pakistan have accounted the contribution of socio-demographic factors effects on anaemia during pregnancy especially women involved in the overload of work during pregnancy without antenatal care. Therefore this study was thus conducted to establish the severity of anemia & its association with socio-demographic factors in pregnant females in rural areas of Pakistan.

Methods This cross sectional study was performed at government and private rural medical centers and maternity homes. Women with 2nd and third trimester were selected in the study. Each female was interviewed and data regarding socio-demographic characteristics as: parity, gestational age, education, occupation and dietary habits were recorded. Dietary intakes were estimated as adequate or inadequate. As per WHO criteria the anaemia in pregnant females is classified into mild (HB 90–110 g/L); moderate (HB 70– 90g/L) and severe (HB <70 g/L). All the data was recorded in the Performa.

Results Total 120 pregnant women more than 12 weeks of gestational age were incorporated. Mean age of patients was 37.5+6.33 years. Mean gestation age was 30.4+4.11 weeks. According to severity of anemia, 18.34% patients had normal hemoglobin, 41.6% had mild anemia, 25.0% had moderate anemia and 15.0% had severe anemia. Multi-gravity, low socioeconomic status, inadequate dietary intake, absent of Iron and Folate Supplements and over load of work noted significantly associated with severity of anemia in pregnant women. P-value 0.001, while majority of uneducated women were found with severity of anemia but no significant difference was found P- value 0.08

DISTRIBUTION OF PATIENTS ACCORDING TO THE SEVERITY OF ANEMIA (n=120)

Anemia association with Socio-demographic characteristics (n=120)

ANEMIA ASSOCIATION WITH SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS (N=120) P_Value 0.001 0.05

Conclusion A high incidence of anaemia lies among rural pregnant females. Low socioeconomic status, inadequate dietary intake, absent of Iron and Folate Supplements and over load of work were noted significantly associated with severity of anemia in pregnant women

Future steps Multi-center rural research is required to comprehend the anaemia pathogenesis amongst pregnant cases from various cultural families in primary health centers.