title: Iron status of pregnant women at first antenatal booking in Mbarara University Teaching Hospital.
abstract: An assessment of iron status was made on 96 pregnant women and 29 non-pregnant, non-lactating menstruating women of comparable age group as controls. Anaemia (haemoglobin < 110 g/l) was present in 84.4% of the pregnant women and in 48.3% of the control group. Iron deficiency (serum ferritin < 12.0 micrograms/l) was present in 51.1% of the pregnant group and 37.9% of the control group. Prevalence of anaemia with iron deficiency was 54.7% in anaemic pregnant women. Serum ferritin correlated significantly with low haemoglobin (P < 0.05). Median serum ferritin declined progressively until 31 weeks of gestation. Preliminary studies on their dietetics showed that low animal protein consumption and poor dietary iron bioavailability were associated with anaemia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Mbarara University, Uganda. must@uga.healthnet.org
authors.forename: G N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Kiwanuka
authors.forename: W K
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Isharaza
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mahmoud
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000740:Anemia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D018798:Anemia, Iron-Deficiency / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D006373:Helminthiasis / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011250:Pregnancy Complications, Hematologic / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D014454:Uganda / Q000453:epidemiology