Prevalence and factors associated with anemia among pregnant women attending antenatal care in Shalla Woreda, W/Arsi Zone, Oromia region

Abstract

Background: Anemia in pregnancy is a common problem in many developing countries and affects both mother’s and child’s health. Knowledge of the current status of associated factors in our setting is necessary. This knowledge will motivate antenatal caregivers toward prevention and early detection and of anemia in pregnancy. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was conducted on 374 pregnant women attending ANC. Blood sample was taken to determine hemoglobin (Hgb) level, and semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect the information. The data were cleaned, coded, and fed into SPSS version 16.0 for descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate analysis. Results: Mean Hgb concentration was 12.05g/dl ± 1.5 and the overall anemia prevalence was 36.6%. Having five or more living children (odds ratio [OR] = 5.2), intake of vegetables less than once per day, (OR = 6.7) taking tea always after meal (OR=12.8), and recurrence illness during the current pregnancy (OR = 7.3) were determined as the independently influencing occurrence of anemia in pregnancy. Conclusion: This study shows that anemia is a moderate public health problem among pregnant women in the study area. Hence, ANC should put emphasis on routine anemia screening, dietary advice, iron supplementation, and counseling for the use of family planning after delivery to delay the subsequent pregnancy more than 2 years is highly recommended.