Abstract:
BACKGROUND: Anemia during pregnancy is a common problem which affects both the mother’s and
her child’s health. The main aim of the study was to determine the prevalence and associated risk factors
of anemia among pregnant women.
METHODS: We conducted a facility based cross-sectional study on 363 pregnant women attending
antenatal care clinic in Wolayita Soddo Otona Hospital from January to March 2014. Sociodemographic data were collected through questionnaire based interview. Four milliliter of venous blood
and five grams of fecal samples were collected from each pregnant woman. Hematological parameters
were determined using CELL DYN 1800® (Abott, USA) Hematology analyzer. Stool samples were
checked 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 of
contraceptive 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 pregnant
women.
CONCLUSION: Anemia prevalence was found out to be moderate public health importance. Identified
risk factors should be considered for prevention and control of anemia among pregnant women
