Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Anemia in Pregnancy is Still a Public Health Problem: A Single Center Study with Review of Literature

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Indian Journal of Hematology and Blood Transfusion Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Anemia is a significant public health problem during pregnancy and its prevalence varies in different cohorts. Correct identification of this problem in a given population is important for implementation of various health schemes. This study was carried out at a tertiary care hospital in Haryana. The prevalence of anemia in females at the time pregnancy diagnosis during first trimester was studied. The study period was January 2018 to June 2019. Severity of anemia was categorized as mild (hemoglobin 10–10.9 gm/dl), moderate (hemoglobin 7–9.9 gm/dl) and severe (hemoglobin < 7 gm/dl) as per the WHO definition. Relevant review of literature on prevalence of anemia in pregnancy in different Indian states was done. The median age of 388 females with diagnosis of pregnancy during first trimester was 27 years. Mean hemoglobin concentration was 10.47 gm/dl. 264 (68%) females had anemia. Out of these 191 (72.3%) had mild anemia, 65 (24.6%) had moderate anemia and eight had severe anemia. Out of the total study population, 270 (69.58%) were from rural and 118 (30.41%) were from urban background. Among the anemic pregnant females, 179 (67.8%) belonged to rural areas and 85 (32.20%) belonged to urban areas. Out of 264 patients with anemia, 87 (32.95%) patients were primigravida and 177 (67.04%) were multiparous females. The results of literature review showed a high prevalence of anemia in the other Indian states also. There is high prevalence of anemia in females at the time of diagnosis of pregnancy. Rates of anemia are higher in females with higher parity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. World Health Organization (2011) Hemoglobin concentration for the diagnosis of anemia and assessment of severity. https://www.who.int/vmnis/indicators/haemoglobin.pdf

  2. World Health Organization (1992) The prevalence of anaemia in women: a tabulation of available information, 2nd edn. World Health Organization, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  3. Stevens G, Finucane M, De-Regil L, Paciorek C, Flaxman S, Branca F et al (2013) Global, regional, and national trends in total and severe anaemia prevalence in children and pregnant and non-pregnant women. Lancet Global Health 1:e16–e25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Stoltzfus RJ, Mullany L, Black RE (2004) Iron deficiency anaemia. In: Ezzati M, Lopez AD, Rodgers A, Murray CJL (eds) Comparative quantification of health risks: global and regional burden of disease attributable to selected major risk factors. World Health Organization, Geneva, pp 163–210

    Google Scholar 

  5. Zhang Q, Ananth CV, Rhoads GG, Li Z (2009) The impact of maternal anemia on perinatal mortality: a population-based, prospective cohort study in China. Ann Epidemiol 19:793–799

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Kozuki N, Lee AC, Katz J (2012) Moderate to severe, but not mild, maternal anemia is associated with increased risk of small-for-gestational-age outcomes. J Nutr 142:358–362

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Steer PJ (2000) Maternal hemoglobin concentration and birth weight. Am J Clin Nutr 71:1285S–1287S

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Roy K, Baruah J, Kumar S, Malhotra N, Deorari AK, Sharma JB (2006) Maternal antenatal profile and immediate neonatal outcome in VLBW and ELBW babies. Indian J Pediatr 73:669–673

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Singla P, Tyagi M, Kumar A, Dash D, Shankar R (1997) Fetal growth in maternal anaemia. J Trop Pediatr 43:89–92

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Haider BA, Olofin I, Wang M, Spiegelman D, Ezzati M, Fawzi WW, Nutrition Impact Model Study Group (anaemia) (2013) Anaemia, prenatal iron use, and risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ 346:f3443

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (2013) Weekly iron and folic acid supplementation programme. http://www.mohfw.nic.in/NRHM/AH/WIFS.htm. Accessed January 10, 2013

  12. Patel A, Prakash AA, Das PK, Gupta S, Pusdekar YV, Hibberd PL (2018) Maternal anemia and underweight as determinants of pregnancy outcomes: cohort study in eastern rural Maharashtra, India. BMJ Open 8(8):e021623

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Suryanarayana R, Chandrappa M, Santhuram AN, Prathima S, Sheela SR (2017) Prospective study on prevalence of anemia of pregnant women and its outcome: a community based study. J Family Med Prim Care 6:739–743

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Mehrotra M, Yadav S, Deshpande A, Mehrotra H (2018) A study of the prevalence of anemia and associated sociodemographic factors in pregnant women in Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands. J Family Med Prim Care 7:1288–1293

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Nair M, Choudhury MK, Choudhury SS et al (2016) Association between maternal anaemia and pregnancy outcomes: a cohort study in Assam, India. BMJ Glob Health 1(1):000026

    Google Scholar 

  16. Rajaratnam J, Abel R, Ganesan C, Jayaseelan SA (2000) Maternal anaemia: a persistent problem in rural Tamil Nadu. Natl Med J India 13:242–245

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Mangla M, Singla D (2016) Prevalence of anaemia among pregnant women in rural India: a longitudinal observational study. Int J Reprod Contracept Obstet Gynecol 5:3500–3505

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Bisoi S, Haldar D, Majumdar TK et al (2011) Correlates of anemia among pregnant women in rural area of West Bengal. J Fam Welf 57:72–78

    Google Scholar 

  19. Singh AB, Kandpal SD, Chandra R, Srivastava VK, Negi KS (2009) Anemia amoght pregnant and lactating women in district Dehradun. Ind J Prev Soc Med 40:19–22

    Google Scholar 

  20. Mahashabde P, Arora VK, Sharma S, Shahjada A, Dabhi HM (2014) Prevalence of anaemia and its socio-demographic determinants in pregnant women: a cross-sectional study in tertiary health care setup in central India. Natl J Commun Med 5:126–130

    Google Scholar 

  21. Singh P, Chaudhary V (2014) Prevalence of anaemia and its socio demographic determinants among pregnant women in Bareilly district, Uttar Pradesh. Indian J Commun Health 26:348–352

    Google Scholar 

  22. Vemulapalli B, Rao K (2013) Prevalence of anaemia among pregnant women of rural community in Vizianagaram, North Coastal Andhra Pradesh, India. Asian J Med Sci 5:21–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Agarwal KN, Agarwal DK, Sharma A, Sharma K, Prasad K, Kalita MC et al (2006) Prevalence of anaemia in pregnant and lactating women in India. Indian J Med Res 124:173–184

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. ICMR Task Force Study (1989) CMR evaluation of the national nutritional anemia prophylaxis programme. Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi

    Google Scholar 

  25. Balarajan Y, Ramakrishnan U, Ozaltin E, Shankar AH, Subramanian SV (2011) Anemia in low-income and middle-income countries. Lancet 378:2123–2135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Kalaivani K (2009) Prevalence and consequences of anaemia in pregnancy. Indian J Med Res 130:627–633

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Crosby WH, Munn JG, Furth ED (1964) Cyanmethaemoglobin method for estimation of hemoglobin. US Armed Forces Med J 5:693–697

    Google Scholar 

  28. NFHS (2002) India 1998-99–National Family Health Survey-2 NFHS-2–anemia among women and children. International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, p 2000

    Google Scholar 

  29. Malhotra P, Kumari S, Kumar R et al (2004) Prevalence of anemia in adult rural population of North India. J Assoc Phys India 52:18–20

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Tandon R, Jain A, Malhotra P (2018) Management of iron deficiency anemia in pregnancy in India. Indian J Hematol Blood Transfus 34:204–215

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Adesh Medical College and Hospital, Mohri, Shahbad, Haryana, India

    Susmita Sharma, Sukhbir Pal Kaur & Gagan Lata

Authors
  1. Susmita Sharma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sukhbir Pal Kaur
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Gagan Lata
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Susmita Sharma.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sharma, S., Kaur, S.P. & Lata, G. Anemia in Pregnancy is Still a Public Health Problem: A Single Center Study with Review of Literature. Indian J Hematol Blood Transfus 36, 129–134 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12288-019-01187-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12288-019-01187-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation