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Journal of Medical Sciences

Year: 2013 | Volume: 13 | Issue: 6 | Page No.: 425-431
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Authors

I.O. Obasi

N. Nwachukwu

Keywords

Research Article

Comparative Iron Related Anaemia at Pregnancy in Ebonyi State, South-east Nigeria

I.O. Obasi and N. Nwachukwu
This study prospectively assessed and compared the gestational iron status of urban and rural women of Ebonyi State. Iron is an inevitable micronutrient in any healthy pregnancy. Its deficiency is a major cause of gestational anaemia, affecting a good percentage of poorer pregnant women even in developed countries. Gestational anaemia was noted to be prevalent in the area of our study. A cross session of antenatal patients were randomly selected from reference urban and rural hospitals in Ebonyi State and screened for their gestational iron status. Haemoglobin level was determined using Drabkin’s (Cyanmethaemoglobin) method; while Atomic Absorption Spectrometric (AAS) method was used for serum iron level. Statistical analysis was done with Statistical Program for Social Sciences (version 15.0). Gestational Iron Deficiency (GID) and the consequent Iron Deficiency Anaemia (IDA) were, respectively 65.3 and 47.5% for urban subjects. While that of the rural subjects were 48.5 and 41.9%, respectively. The iron level of the urban pregnant women was significantly (p<0.01) lower than that of their rural counterparts. Obstetric and socioeconomic factors did not indicate any significant influence on the iron status of either of the regional cases. Conclusively therefore, the urban women were more vulnerable to GID and of course, IDA than their rural counterparts.
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