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Anaemia and iron deficiency during pregnancy in rural Bangladesh

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2007

SM Ziauddin Hyder ,
Lars-Åke Persson ,
Mushtaque Chowdhury ,
Bo Lönnerdal  and
Eva-Charlotte Ekström
SM Ziauddin Hyder*
Affiliation:
Research and Evaluation Division, BRAC, Dhaka, Bangladesh Division of Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Hospital for Sick Children and Center for International Health, University of Toronto, 555 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5G 1X8
Lars-Åke Persson
Affiliation:
International Maternal and Child Health, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Mushtaque Chowdhury
Affiliation:
Research and Evaluation Division, BRAC, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Bo Lönnerdal
Affiliation:
Department of Nutrition, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
Eva-Charlotte Ekström
Affiliation:
International Maternal and Child Health, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
*
*Corresponding author: Email [email protected]
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Abstract

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Objective:

To study the prevalence of anaemia and its association with measures of iron deficiency (ID) among a group of pregnant women.

Design:

Cross-sectional survey.

Setting:

Pregnant women identified through house-to-house visits and participating in community-based antenatal care activities in a rural location of Mymensingh, Bangladesh.

Subjects:

The estimates are based on 214 reportedly healthy pregnant women in their second trimester. Information on socio-economic status and reproductive history were obtained through home visits and venous blood samples were collected at antenatal care centres. Haemoglobin concentration (Hb) was measured by HemoCue, serum ferritin (sFt) by radioimmunoassay and serum transferrin receptor (sTfR) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay methods. ID was defined as presence of either low sFt (<12 μg l−1) or high sTfR (>8.5 mg l−1).

Results:

The prevalence of anaemia (Hb <110 g l−1) was 50%, but severe anaemia (Hb >70 g l−1) was absent. Low sFt was observed in 42%, high sTfR in 25%, either low sFt or high TfR in 54% and both low sFt and high TfR in 13% of the pregnant women. Two out of three anaemic women had an indication of ID, which was present in 80% of women with moderate (Hb 70–99 g l−1) and 50% with mild (Hb 100–109 g l−1) anaemia. Four out of 10 non-anaemic women (Hb >110 g l−1) also had ID, but the prevalence was significantly lower than that observed in anaemic women (P=0.001).

Conclusions:

Despite the high prevalence of anaemia, severe cases were absent. The prevalence of ID increased at lower Hb. However, an increased prevalence was also found among women in the highest category of Hb.

Keywords

AnaemiaIron deficiencySerum ferritinTransferrin receptorsPregnancyBangladesh
Type
Research Article
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Volume 7 , Issue 8 , December 2004 , pp. 1065 - 1070
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2004

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