MATERNAL ANEMIA AS A PREDICTOR OF LOW BIRTH WEIGHT BABIES IN UNDERDEVELOPED RURAL AREA OF SOUTHERN PUNJAB

Abstract

Objective; To determine the frequency of low birth weight babies born to anemic pregnant ladies of underdeveloped area of Southern Punjab. Subjects and methods; A total 216 pregnant women aged 20 – 40 years, with anemia were included in our study. Anemic pregnant women with gestational age more than 24 weeks having singleton fetus were taken. Five ml of venous blood sample was drawn and sent to the laboratory for estimation hemoglobin levels to diagnose anemia among pregnant women and only anemic women were taken and followed till delivery to diagnose low birth weight. All the data was entered and analyzed by using SPSS version 20.0. Results; A total of 216 pregnant women with anemia were included in this study. Mean age of our study cases was 26.67 ± 4.26 years ranging from 21 – 35 years and 161 (74.5%) were aged up to 30 years. One hundred sixty three (75.5%) were from poor socioeconomic background while 53 (24.5%) were from middle income families. Only 36 (16.7%) were literate and 180 (83.3%) were illiterate. One hundred forty four (66.7%) belonged to joint family system and only 36 (16.7%) had history of using iron supplementation during course of pregnancy. Mean parity was 3.12 ± .93 and 117 (54.2%) had parity up to 3. Mean maternal hemoglobin level was 8.91 ± 1.28 g/dl ranging from 6.5 to 10.8 g/dl. Mean birth weight of our study cases was 2300.97 ± 228.94 grams and low birth weight babies were 120 (55.6%). Conclusion; Very high frequency of low birth weight newborn babies was noted among anemic mothers in our study. Low birth weight was significantly associated with increasing age, illiteracy, lack of use of iron supplementation and increasing parity. Anemic mothers should be counseled for proper dietary uptake during pregnancy so as to avoid adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Keywords; Maternal anemia, low birth weight, hemoglobin levels.