Iron Status of Pregnant Women at Different Trimester in Nsukka, Enugu State, South East, Nigeria

Anaemia associated with iron deficiency in pregnant women in South East , Nigeria is a serious medical issue particularly in remote areas due to poor awareness. The aim of this research work was to determine the prevalence and severity of anaemia in pregnant women in first, second and third trimester using haemoglobin and ferritin concentration as an indicator of anaemia among the subjects. Effect of age, gestational age (trimester) and intake of routine drug on haemoglobin and ferritin concentration of the subjects were also determined. In this study a total of 127 blood samples from pregnant women within the age of 20 – 49 years, in which 6 were in first trimester, 50 in second trimester and 71 in third trimester were collected. From this study, the prevalence of anaemia in the subjects based on haemoglobin concentration below 11 g/dl was 39.4%, prevalence based on ferritin concentration below 15 µg/l was 27.6%. The result of correlation analysis of haemoglobin concentration on the effect of age shows a negative correlation which is significant (p < 0.05) but positively correlated with ferritin concentration although not significant at (p > 0.05). Gestational age when correlated with haemoglobin and ferritin concentration shows a negative correlation at (p > 0.05). Intake of routine drug when correlated with haemoglobin shows a negative correlation at (p > 0.05) but when correlated with ferritin shows a positive correlation, although not significant at (p > 0.05). This study reveals that more than half of the subjects were anaemic and their children stands the risk of being born anaemic especially when they are exclusively breast fed. Therefore, public health campaign should be carried out to sensitize pregnant women on the need for early antenatal booking and iron supplementation during pregnancy. Key words: Iron, haemoglobin, Ferritin, Pregnant women, anaemia, trimester, Nsukka DOI : 10.7176/JHMN/117-01 Publication date: September 30th 2024