Publication:

Severe anemia and adverse pregnancy outcome

Background Anaemia is commonest medical disorder in pregnancy with 88% prevalence in India mainly due to ignorance, poverty and gender bias 40-60% of maternal deaths in developing countries. The aim of the study was to determine the association between severe anemia, maternal and perinatal complications.

Methods Case control study was done in department of obstetrics and gynecology, Government Medical College Nagpur, India from September 2011 to February 2012. 50 pregnant women, admitted for delivery and having severe anemia were studied and compared with 100 non anemic women of similar demographic features. Maternal and perinatal complications were observed. Pearson, chi-square and Fischer exact tests were used to calculate significance of results.

Results Of the severely anemic mothers, 36% babies were low birth weight (p=0.042) and 20% were small for gestational age (p = 0.026), as compared to 18% and 10% of controls, respectively.

Conclusions Severe maternal anemia carries significant risk of hemorrhage and infection in the mother. It is also associated with preterm birth, low birth weight.