Prevalence of anaemia among pregnant mothers attending the antenatal clinic in Teaching Hospital Batticaloa, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Anaemia is a very common among pregnant mothers and there is high prevalence in developing countries. There are many etiological, risk factors contribute for it and due to anaemia there are complication such as Pre-eclampsia, recurrent infections, preterm labor, Postpartum hemorrhage, uterine inertia. Our general objective was to determine the prevalence of anaemia among the pregnant mothers attending antenatal clinics in Teaching Hospital Batticaloa and specific objective was relation to sociodemographic, reproductive characteristics and knowledge among women attending antenatal clinics in Teaching Hospital Batticaloa. Study design was Descriptive Cross-sectional also Study area and setting was Antenatal clinics in Teaching Hospital Batticoloa and population was pregnant mothers attending antenatal clinics at Teaching Hospital Batticoloa. Complete Enumeration was used as sampling method and the data was analyzed and processed with the help of statistical package for social studies version 21(SPSS21). Overall, 207 pregnant mothers participated in the study. Among them 39.4 pregnant mothers were anaemic. Among them 26.7% were mildly anaemic. 12.5% were moderately anaemic and none of them were severely anaemic. Factors that were significantly affected for anemia was age, education, economic status, trimester, parity and poor dietary habits. Nearly two fifth of pregnant mother attending antenatal clinics in Teaching Hospital Batticoloa were anaemic. The results which identified as significant risk factors may assist medical practitioner to provide proper prevention and treatment to pregnant mothers.