ANAEMIA IN PREGNANCY AND PREGNANCY OUTCOME IN OSOGBO, SOUTH WESTERN NIGERIA

Fasanu Adeniyi Olanipekun, *Isawumi Adegboye Isaac, Kolawole Olajide Olafimihan,
Akindele Rasaq Akintunde and Ala Olufemi Olamakinwa

ABSTRACT

Anaemia in pregnancy is one of the leading complications of pregnancy and also one of the leading causes of maternal mortality and poor neonatal outcome especially in the developing countries. The study sought to determine the effect of anaemia on pregnancy and pregnancy outcome in Osogbo, South west Nigeria. It was a retrospective study, carried out on 250 women seen between January 2013 and December 2017 in Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital (LTH), Osogbo. A structured proforma was used to extract data from the retrieved case notes. The causes of anaemia in pregnancy, foetal and overall pregnancy outcome were studied retrospectively. The outcome variables include APGAR score, perinatal mortality, birthweight and presence or absence of maternal complications (puerperal sepsis, postpartum haemorrhage, maternal death). Of the 250 pregnant women with anaemia studied, 15.1% of booked patients had severe anaemia and 45.2% had mild to moderate anaemia while 84% of unbooked patients had severe anaemia and 54.8% had mild to moderate anaemia. Malaria was the commonest cause of anaemia, accounting for 34.8%, followed by sepsis (13.6%) and nutritional causes (12.8%). Anaemia was noticed to be severe in women that did not receive Intermittent Preventive Therapy (42.7%) compared to women who had Intermittent Preventive Therapy (5.2%). Also babies of women with severe anaemia had a higher risk of birth asphyxia and perinatal mortality (10.8%). Women with haemoglobinopathy also had a higher prevalence of severe anaemia. Prevalence of anaemia was higher among the unbooked patients and those women in whom Intermittent Preventive Therapy were not administered, severe anaemia was also associated with poor perinatal outcome.

Keywords: Anaemia, Pregnancy, Foeto-Maternal, Outcome.