Iron Status of Pregnant Women in Rural and Urban Communities of Cross River State, South-South Nigeria.

Anaemia in pregnancy is a major public health problem in Nigeria. Iron deficiency is one of the major causes of anaemia in pregnancy.  Inadequate iron intake during pregnancy can be dangerous to both baby and mother. Iron status of pregnant women was assessed in two rural and one urban communities in Cross River State Nigeria. Packed cell volume, haemoglobin, mean cell haemoglobin, mean cell haemoglobin concentration, red cell count, serum iron, total iron binding capacity, transferrin saturation, serum ferritin, soluble transferrin receptor and soluble transferrin receptor/ferritin ratio were measured in plasma/serum of 170 pregnant women within the age range of 15-45 years. Seventy participants were from antenatal clinic of University of Calabar Teaching Hospital Calabar (urban community), 50 from St Joseph Hospital Ikot Ene (rural community) in Akpabuyo Local Government Area and the remaining 50 from University of Calabar Teaching Hospital   extension clinic in Okoyong (rural community), Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross River state. The prevalence of   anaemia, iron deficiency, iron depletion and iron deficiency anaemia were found to be significantly higher among pregnant women from the two rural communities when compared to the urban community. it was also observed that  the prevalence of  anaemia, iron deficiency, iron depletion and iron deficiency anaemia   were significantly higher (p<0.05) among pregnant women from Akpabuyo   38(76.00%),   20(40.00%),   23(46.0%)   ,   16(32.00%)   respectively followed   by  Okoyong 24(48.0%),  20(40.0%),  16(32.0%),  6(12.0)     and  then  those  from     Calabar  14(20%), 12(17.90%) , 14(20.0%).  The mean haemoglobin and haematocrit were significantly reduced in pregnant women from the two rural communities. Serum iron, serum ferritin and transferrin saturation showed no significant difference while total iron binding capacity and soluble transferrin receptor significantly increased among pregnant women from Okoyong when compared to those from Calabar. It was also shown that pregnant women in their third trimesters and multigravidae had the highest prevalence of iron depletion and iron deficiency anaemia while prevalence of iron deficiency and anaemia were higher in primigravidae and the pregnant women in their second trimester. In conclusion, this study has shown that the prevalence of anaemia and iron deficiency anaemia are higher among pregnant women in the rural communities when compared to those in the urban areas.

Frequency of Hepatitis B and C Co-Infection in Chronic Liver Disease Patients in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria.

Hepatitis B (HBsAg) and C (HCV) virus are becoming a significant causative factors in the aetiology of chronic liver disease (CLD) worldwide. However, the information on the frequency of HBsAg and HCV virus co-infection in CLD is sparsely reported in Nigeria. In this study, we assessed the frequency of HBsAg and HCV co-infection in CLD. One hundred and eleven subjects aged 19 - 76 years, comprising of 76 CLD patients and 35 apparently healthy subjects without CLD were tested for both HBsAg and HCV virus antibodies using ELISA test kits. Out of the 111 subjects recruited for this study, 76 (68.5%) were CLD patients tested positive for HBsAg and 35 (31.5%) tested negative for HBsAg and served as control. Out of the 76 CLD patients that tested positive for HBsAg, 34 (44.7%) of them also tested positive for HCV, thus, having co-infection with HBV. Incidence of co-infection was highest in those aged 36 - 45 years, and greater in males than females. Among the control group, 4 (11.4%) of the subjects (3 males and 1 female) tested positive for HCV, while 31 (88.6%) subjects (20 males and 11 females) tested negative. This work has shown that the co-infection with HBV and HCV among chronic liver disease patients and the incidence of HCV is high in our locality. Also, some of the supposed apparently healthy subjects in this study tested positive for HCV, hence the need for improving the awareness of this virus. It is therefore necessary to give immunization and test for HBsAg and HCV in both rural and urban areas.