Profile of anemia in the third trimester of pregnant women in Makassar, South Sulawesi

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The causes of anemia in pregnancy are multifactorial, one of which is iron deficiency. Approximately 20% of pregnant women in the third trimester have microcytic hypochromic anemia. This study aims to analyze anemia in third trimester pregnant women.METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, the complete blood count and ferritin level was assessed through the hematology analyzer and ELISA, respectively. Data were analyzed by the Chi-square Test and Mann-Whitney Test.RESULTS: This study involved 104 pregnant women with anemia from 1426 pregnant women in the maternity ward at Khadijah I Mother and Child Hospital, Makassar - Indonesia, from October - December 2022 who met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed further. Characteristics of anemia based on laboratory examination results include 70 subjects (67.31%) with low MCV, 68 subjects (65.38%) with low MCH, 22 subjects (21.15%) with low MCHC, 85 subjects (81.73%) with low ferritin (<30 ng/mL). Sixty-eight subjects (65.38%) had hypochromic microcytic anemia. Most of the pregnant women had ferritin levels <30 ng/mL. However, no significant association was found between number of parity and ferritin levels (P=0.575). Low ferritin levels were not associated with an increased likelihood of low-birth-weight neonates in pregnant women (P=0.360). There was one subject with Ascaris lumbricoides worm eggs and microcytic hypochromic anemia with Hb: 9.7 gr/dL, MCV: 69.10, MCH: 25 and ferritin level: 0.97 ng/mL.CONCLUSIONS: Anemia is markedly found in the third trimester pregnancy, particularly the hypochromic microcytic type. Moreover, hypochromic microcytic anemia is associated with ferritin level in the respected population.

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