Abstract

Low iron status and Iron deficiency anemia are major prenatal complications predisposing pregnant women to preventable causes of premature delivery, intrauterine growth retardation and neonatal and prenatal death in Nigeria. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate and compare serum iron status in pregnant and non-pregnant women in Sapele, South-South Nigeria. A total of three hundred and sixty subjects were enrolled for this study comprising of 78 non-pregnant women and 282 pregnant women. 5 ml of venous blood were collected from participant into EDTA and plan containers respectively. The serum obtain from clotted sample was used for serum iron estimation using iron reduction method while EDTA blood was used for Packed Cell Volume (PCV) and hemoglobin estimation. Non-pregnant women had mean PCV value of 0.37±0.02 L/L with hemoglobin level of 12.3±0.9 g/dl and serum iron level of 132.6 ± 37.0 ug/dl. On the other hand, women with pregnancy had a mean PCV level of 0.32 ± 0.04 L/L, with hemoglobin and serum Iron level of 10.8 ± 1.5 g/dl and 96.4 ± 48.3 ug/dl respectively. Pregnant women had a significantly lower level of serum iron, PCV and hemoglobin when compare to non-pregnant women. This result points to the possibility of iron deficiency anemia among pregnant women in Sapele South-South Nigeria. It is believed that, information provided from this study will help in clinical care of pregnant women in this locality.

Key words:  Iron status, pregnant women Sapele.