ANEMIA AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN ATTENDING ANTENATAL CARE CLINIC IN WOLAYITA SODO TOWN, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Anemia during pregnancy is a common problem which affects both the mother’s andher child’s health. The main aim of the study was to determine the prevalence and associated risk factorsof anemia among pregnant women.METHODS: We conducted a facility based cross-sectional study on 363 pregnant women attendingantenatal care clinic in Wolayita Soddo Otona Hospital from January to March 2014. Socio-demographic data were collected through questionnaire based interview. Four milliliter of venous bloodand five grams of fecal samples were collected from each pregnant woman. Hematological parameterswere determined using CELL DYN 1800 ® (Abott, USA) Hematology analyzer. Stool samples werechecked for intestinal parasites using both direct wet mount and formol-ether concentration techniques.Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 software.RESULTS: Overall, the prevalence of anemia was 39.94% (95% CI: 34.7 - 45.2%), of which the majority(60%) had moderate anemia. The mean hemoglobin concentration was 11.55±2.97 g/dl. Age 15-24 years(AOR: 9.89, 95%CI:2.68-21.41), family size >5 (AOR:7.74, 95%CI:4.15-16.47), multigravida (AOR:2.66,95%CI:1.1.31-4.53), having low income (AOR:5.81, 95%CI:2.93-14.11), current clinical illness (AOR:6.38, 95%CI:3.13-13.00), intestinal parasitic infection (AOR:2.41, 95%CI:1.08-5.81), no history ofcontraceptive usage (AOR:5.02 95%CI:2.21-11.47), being in third trimesters (AOR:11.37, 95%CI:4.56-24.82), history of excess menstrual bleeding (AOR:9.82, 95%CI:3.27-21.35) and low body mass index(AOR:9.44, 95%CI:7.79-22.18) were identified as independent predictors of anemia among pregnantwomen.CONCLUSION: Anemia prevalence was found out to be moderate public health importance. Identifiedrisk factors should be considered for prevention and control of anemia among pregnant women.