HOLISTIC APPROACH TO CAUSES, PREVENTIVE MEASURES OF ANAEMIA AND ITS ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN ATTENDING THE ANTENATAL CLINIC OF TUMU MUNICIPAL HOSPITAL GHANA

Abstract

Background

Anaemia is a major health issue worldwide, especially among prenatal women and has a lot of consequences on both women and their unborn babies. The risk of anaemia among prenatal mothers is increased due to a disproportionate increase in plasma volume compared to red cell mass which happens after the first trimester.

The consequences of anaemia in pregnancy to the mother include; decreased body resistance to infections, pre-term labour, puerperal sepsis, late abortions, impaired involution of uterus, pre-eclampsia, and death. Consequences to the fetus include; Intra-Uterine Growth Retardation, Intra-Uterine Fetal Defects, birth asphyxia, immatured immunity.

This study sought to ascertain the Holistic approach to preventive measures of Anaemia and its related factors among pregnant women attending the antenatal clinic of Tumu municipal hospital of Ghana.

Methods

This cross-sectional study included 401 pregnant women who were randomly selected at Tumu Municipal Hospital using a systematic sampling technique. The researcher used three (3) trained research assistants to help in the collection of data for the study. Data was gathered through face-to-face administration.

The data collected included demographic and secondary data of haemoglobin levels. Haemoglobin levels were categorized using the WHO criteria; normal (≥11g/dl), mild anaemia (10–10.9g/dl), moderate anaemia (7–9.9g/dl), severe anaemia (<7g/dl).

Analysis Data was managed/cleaned using SPSS version 20 and analyzed using STATA version 16. Descriptive statistics was used to ascertain the frequency distribution, mean, and standard deviation and ethical approval was obtained from the Ethics Review Committee of the University of Port Harcourt (School of Public Health) with a protocol number UPH/CEREMAD/REC/120.

Results

The haemoglobin level at antenatal registration ranged from 7.1g/dl to 16.7g/dl with the mean haemoglobin being 11.3g/dl (±1.3 standard deviation). 32.2% of the respondents were anaemic at registration which was made up of 27.2% with a mild form of anaemia (haemoglobin level from 9 to 10.9 g/dl) whilst the remaining 5.0% had moderate.

Factors associated with anaemia among pregnant women include; birth interval, age, antenatal care attendance, and diet diversification. Findings revealed that mothers with intervals of three years and beyond were 76% less likely to have anaemia compared to others whose birth intervals were less than two years (AOR: 0.24 (C.I: 0.09 – 0.64) p= 0.004).

Pregnant women aged 21 to 25 years were 58% less likely to be anaemic compared to those who were less than 20 years (COR: 0.42 (C.I: 0.17 – 0.99) p= 0.048). Pregnant women who have attended the antenatal care clinic for at least 4 times were 51% less likely to be anaemic (AOR: 0.49 (C.I: 0.28 – 0.86) p= 0.013), and mothers who consume diversified diet were 63% less likely to become anaemic (AOR: 0.37 (C.I: 0.19 – 0.73) p= 0.004).

Conclusion

Findings of this study revealed that anaemia in pregnancy is high as 43.45% of the pregnant women were anaemic after 28 weeks. The anaemia status at antenatal care registration was better than the status after 28 weeks of gestation since the prevalence was 32.17% at registration but increased to 43% after 28 weeks of gestation which should not have been the case.