Anemia during pregnancy in a Chinese population.
OBJECTIVE
To study prevalence, risk factors, and birth outcomes of women with anemia during pregnancy in a Chinese population.


METHODS
A retrospective cohort study was performed based on 16936 pregnancies delivered between January 1989 and December 1990 in Suzhou, China. Anemia was defined as hemoglobin less than 10 g/dl. Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratio, 95% confidence interval, and to control for confounding variables.


RESULTS
The prevalence of anemia was 10.3% at the first trimester, 18.9% at the third trimester. Overall, 26.2% pregnant women experienced anemia in pregnancy. Anemia during early pregnancy was not associated with increased risk of adverse perinatal outcomes. However, anemia in later pregnancy was inversely associated with preterm birth and low birth weight.


CONCLUSIONS
Anemia during pregnancy does not increase the risk of poor birth outcomes.
Xiong
X
X
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada. xu.xiong@umontreal.ca
Buekens
P
P
Fraser
W D
WD
Guo
Z
Z
D000328:Adult; D000740:Anemia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011250:Pregnancy Complications, Hematologic / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors