Publication:

Maternal haemoglobin and neo-natal haemoglobin status: a hospital based study in Ranchi, Jharkhand, India

Background Haemoglobin of foetus increases with advancing gestational age. During pregnancy, fetal demand for iron increases maternal daily iron requirement from first trimester to third trimester. Late cord clamping may result in delivery of extra blood as well as iron to newborn. The cause of worry here is that maternal anaemia is a significant cause of direct and indirect morbidity and mortality both for pregnant mother and her foetus/neonate.

Methods To determine maternal and neonatal haemoglobin status we conducted a cross sectional study comprising 217 pregnant women and their children in Ranchi, Jharkhand, India.

Results Mean neonatal haemoglobin in controls was 18.13±1.14 g/dl whereas that in cases was 17.21±1.38 g/dl and the difference was statistically significant. Among the 97 cases 23 mothers had babies with neonatal haemoglobin below 14g/dl. In controls only 17 out of 120 mothers had babies with neonatal haemoglobin below 14g/dl (p value<0.01).

Conclusions Present study demonstrated that the neonatal haemoglobin is lower in anemic mothers and that the decrease appears to be proportional to the degree of anemia.