Journal of Hematology & Thromboembolic Diseases
Open Access

Abstract

Prevalence of Anemia among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Care at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa Ethiopia

Alemayehu Hailu Jufar and Tewabech Zewde

Background: Anemia impairs cognitive development, reduces physical work capacity and in severe cases increases risk of mortality particularly during prenatal period. There are no previous studies done on anemia in pregnancy in the study area.
Objective: To assess the prevalence and determinant factors of anemia among pregnant women attending antenatal care follow up at Tikur Anbessa specialized hospital.
Methods: Health institutional based cross-sectional study design was conducted from November 23, 2013 - March8, 2013 among 395 pregnant mothers who had been attending antenatal care. Blood sample was taken to determine the hemoglobin concentration and haematocrit value. Interviewer administered structured questionnaire was used to assess different socio-demographic characteristics, obstetrics and dietary factors related to anaemia. Simple random sampling technique was used to select study subjects. Data were entered with EPI info version 3.5.1 Cleaning and analysis was done using SPSS version 17 and statistical tests were performed at the level of significance of 5%.
Result: The overall prevalence of anemia in this study using a cut off level of hemoglobin <11 g/dl (<33% haematocrit) was 21.3% (84/395). Out of 84 anemic pregnant mothers, 80.95% (68/84) were mildly anemic, 17.86% (15/84) were moderately anemic and 1.19% (1/84) were severely anemic. The following variables were significantly associated with anemia: Age (39-45 yrs (AOR=1.21)), education status (illiterate (AOR=2.12)), family size (greater than four (AOR=2.04), gestational age (third trimester (AOR=2.04)), birth intervals (less than two years (AOR=1.21)), history of blood loss (AOR=1.67)), antenatal care (no ANC (AOR=1.11)), contraception (no contraception (AOR=2.31)), gravidity (multigravid (AOR=1.22)), parity (multiparous (AOR=2.19)).
Conclusion: The present study showed high prevalence of anemia and the majority of them were of the mild type (hemoglobin: 10-10.9 g/dl).