Risk factors for anemia during pregnancy

Abstract

Introduction:

Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency during pregnancy and the most common cause of anemia.

Objective:

Identifying some risk factors and their causal association with anemia during pregnancy.

Methods:

An observational, analytical and retrospective study, of the case-control type, was carried out in the period from January to December 2020, in the doctor’s offices of the Teaching Polyclinic, ¨Ramón López Peña¨, in Santiago de Cuba. All pregnant women in the third trimester with hemoglobin levels less than 110 g/L were chosen as cases. Two controls were selected for each case. The strength of association of each risk factor was specified. The attributable commitment in percentage exposed was estimated as an impact measure.

Results:

31.9% of anemic pregnant women were found at risk ages. Toxic habits increased seven times suffering from anemia. Low initial hemoglobin and inadequate dietary habits were found to show a causal association of OR=10.1 and 3.5. Mothers with two risk factors were 4.2 times more likely to have anemia and those with three or more risk conditions were nine times more likely.

Conclusions:

Anemia during pregnancy is of multifactorial cause, proportional to the number of risk factors that coexist in a woman, it is important to carry out intervention strategies to modify and reduce the incidence of these in pregnancy from the pre-conceptional stage.