ABSTRACT
Background: Anaemia seen in pregnancy are largely preventable and easily treatable if detected in time, despite this, anaemia still continues to be a common cause of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality in India.Methods: A prospective observational study of 200 pregnant women with anaemia was carried out from Jun 2017 to December 2018 at a Tertiary care hospital with pan India population. Patients underwent clinical examination and laboratory tests to find out the severity and type of anaemia and were treated accordingly. Iron deficiency anaemia was treated with oral or intravenous iron therapy depending upon the hemoglobin concentration. Patients were followed up after 28 days of treatment and hemoglobin estimation was done to monitor the treatment response.Results: A total 36.49% pregnant women had hemoglobin less than 10 gm%. 151 out of 200 women had serum ferritin <12 ng/ml which indicates that iron deficiency anaemia is the commonest type of anaemia in pregnancy. Overall, out of 200 patients 5.5% patients were found to have hemoglobinopathies (β thalassemia trait). After 28 days of treatment mean increase in hemoglobin was 2.40 gm% and 4.24 gm% in patients receiving oral and intravenous iron therapy respectively.Conclusions: A total 36.49% pregnant women were found to have anaemia during pregnancy and iron deficiency anaemia is the commonest type of anaemia. Therefore, there is still a need for dietary counselling and health education in the community. 5.5% patients were found to have beta thalassemia trait which was detected only after conducting hemoglobin electrophoresis. Both oral and intravenous iron therapy are effective in treatment of iron deficiency anaemia but intravenous iron therapy results in a more rapid resolution of anaemia.