Prevalence of anemia risk factors in pregnant women in Kerman, Iran

Background: Anemia in pregnancy is associated with increased rates of maternal and perinatal mortality. Objective: To study the prevalence and risk factors of women with anemia during pregnancy in Kerman, Iran. Materials and Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was performed based on 2213 pregnancies delivered during the years 2005-2007 in Kerman, Iran. Women with hemoglobinopathies such as thalassemia were excluded from analysis. Anemia was defined as hemoglobin (Hg) lower than 11 g/dl during pregnancy. Categorical variables were compared using the chi-square or Fisher's exact test. Results: Overall, 104 (4.7%) women were anemic (Hg<11 g/dl), out of which 4.8% had severe anemia (Hg<7 g/dl), 15.4% had moderate anemia (Hg=7-8.9 g/dl) and 79.8% had mild anemia (Hg=9-10.9 g/dl). The frequency of anemia were 5%, 3.4% and 5.7% in the first, second and third trimester, respectively. Multiparity was associated with lower hemoglobin concentration during the second/third trimester of pregnancy (p=0.03 and p<0.001, respectively). Prevalence of anemia was significantly higher in smokers and opium users (p=0.01 and p=0.003, respectively). Conclusion: Our study showed that prevalence of anemia was not high in this study. Factors associated with anemia during pregnancy were parity, smoking, opium use and not using Iron supplement.