A Study to Assess the Prevalence of Maternal Anemia and Factors Associated with Anemia among Pregnant Women in Trichy District, Tamilnadu, India

Title: A study to assess the prevalence of maternal anemia and factors associated with anemia among pregnant women in Trichy district, Tamilnadu, India.

Objectives: To assess and associate the prevalence of maternal anemia and factors associated with anemia among pregnant women.

Method: A descriptive cross sectional study design was used. One hundred and sixty five pregnant women were selected by convenient sampling technique. Permission was obtained from the head's of department, at Trichy District. Hemoglobin estimation was done by sahli's method to the pregnant women who attended antenatal clinic between 12-20 weeks of gestation. Demographic proforma was used for data collection.

Results: The data were organized, tabulated, and analyzed by using descriptive (Percentage, Mean) and inferential statistics (chi-square). The results of the study shows that, majority of the subjects 89.09% were in the age group of 20-30 years, 41.21% of them had high school education, 59.39 % of them were primi women, and 50.90% of them had weight as 41- 50 kg. Regarding prevalence of maternal anemia, 62.42% of them had mild anemia, 37.57% of them had moderate anemia and none of them had severe anemia as well as no anemia. There were significant association of maternal anemia with age, education, parity, and weight of women.

Conclusion: Anemia is more in the age group of 20-30 years. Health education plays a major role in adapting positive health behavior against the factors which influences anemia and its effects during pregnancy. Nurses have a great opportunity to counsel the pregnant women to prevent from anemia by advising them to consume green leafy vegetables daily in their diet along with vitamin 'C' rich food as preventive approach.