Haemoglobin levels in West Indian antenatals

RESUMO

Studies conducted in the English-speaking Caribbean have shown that anaemia is a public health problem in pregnancy. However, these studies have been questioned because the World Health Organization (WHO) haemoglobin criteria, which are based on studies of North American and European women, may not apply to Caribbean women. Antenatal clinic records were studied at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI), Kingston, Jamaica. Over half of the antenatal women were between the ages of 21 and 27 years. Modal parity was 1 (41%) followed by a parity of 2 (31%). Median value for gestation was 13 weeks. The mean haemoglobin level was 12.4 ñ 1.5 gm/dl (median = 12.6). Twenty-one antenatal women (3.9%) had haemoglobin levels below 11 gm/dl and only 4 (0.6%) had haemoglobin levels below 10 gm/dl. The mean haemoglobin at the UHWI was 1.9 gm/dl higher than that of 159 patients from Antigua. However, the Antiguans were an average of 6 weeks further advanced in pregnancy. In Montserrat, the mean of 138 antenatal haemoglobin levels was 2.4 gm/dl lower than the UHWI mean/ these patients were also about 6 weeks further advanced in pregnancy. This study suggests that, given the right environment, the antenatal women in Montserrat and Antigua, who are of roughly the same ethnic origin as those from Jamaica, could achieve the same haemoglobin levels as those of pregnant women attending the antenatal clinic at the UHWI, Kingston, Jamaica