Prevalence and obstetric factors associated with anaemia among pregnant women, attending antenatal care in Unguja island, Tanzania

ABSTRACT

Background: Anaemia in pregnancy remains a major health problem with adverse maternal and fetal outcome worldwide, especially in developing countries such as Tanzania. The study aimed to establish prevalence and obstetric factors associated with anaemia among pregnant women attending antenatal care visits in Unguja Island, Tanzania.Methods: This cross sectional survey used systemic random sampling in three hospitals of Unguja Island to select 388 pregnant women. Demographic and obstetric characteristics of respondents were collected using a structured questionnaire. Hemoglobin levels were measured by using Hemocue machine. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was carried out in SPSS version 21.0 to measure obstetric factors associated with anaemia among pregnant women.Results: The overall prevalence of anaemia among pregnant women was 80.8%, whereby 68.64% of respondents had mild anaemia, 11.24% had moderate anaemia and 0.89% had severe anaemia. The factors associated with anaemia in pregnancy were gravidity, (AOR= 1.185, 95% CI=0.317-4.338, p<0.001), irregular taking of iron tablets (AOR=0.288, 95% CI=0.149-0.556, p<0.001) and age of the child <2 years, (AOR 3.635, 95% CI= 1.103-11.882, p<0.034).Conclusions: The prevalence of anaemia among pregnant women in Unguja is high. Timely and regular intake of iron tablets during pregnancy, child spacing as well as having children within the capacity of parents to raise them up may significantly reduce the prevalence of anaemia in pregnancy. Therefore health education on family planning and the importance of taking of iron tablet is critical.