Assessment of the Anemic Conditions during Pregnancy: A Study of Sukkur City, Sindh, Pakistan

Abstract

Background: Anemia is pathological disorder caused by mal nutrition and it is very common among feminine gender during gestational period. Objective: To investigate the prevalence of anemia among pregnant women, and identify the risk factors and symptoms of anemia in pregnancy. Methodology: Descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out for 12 months from June 2018 to June 2019 at Sukkur Blood and Drugs donating Society Hospital in Sukkur Sindh. A total of 300 pregnant women with anemic condition were selected by purposive sampling method. Structured questionnaire was designed in order to collect nominal and ordinal information after getting consent from included patients. The collected information was interpreted by using statistical software SPSS version 24.00 Results: The result revealed that 82.3% of the women were diagnosed as anemic, categorized as mild, moderate and severe. Anemic condition was common among pregnant women with ages 26-35 years, 63.9%. Women with primary or secondary education were more prone to anemia. The pregnant women belongs to rural areas were more forwarded to anemia, 86.6%. The numbers of patients were seen more in second and thirds trimester of gestation while rate of anemia in primary gravida was 75.0% that increased to 81.8% in multigravida, and further increased to 91.5% in grand multiparity. Conclusion: The prevalence of anemia was high in rural area of Sindh. Haemoglobin concentration was very much low in most of the pregnant female. The major cause of anemia in pregnant women was mal nutrition.