title: Iron deficiency anaemia in reproductive age women attending obstetrics and gynecology outpatient of university health centre in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional disorder in the world. The aim of this questionnaire based survey study was to determine the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia in reproductive age women, and their relation to variables such as age, marital status, education with those attending obstetrics and gynecology outpatient of King Faisal University Health Centre in Al-Ahsa in eastern region of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was conducted for the period of 6 month staring from September 2012 to February 2013. The questionnaire had three sections on personal information: their educational indicators, gynecological clinical history, and hematological indices.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average age was 25.97±7.17 years. According to the gynecological clinical history of the respondents, 15 (48.4%) respondents were pregnant while 16 (51.6%) were not pregnant. There was significant effect of pregnancy status on Hb level. Majority of the anemic respondents 15/17 were married. Moreover 14/17 anemic women were experiencing severe menstrual bleeding, 11/17 respondents were pregnant. 54.8% of respondents were hemoglobin deficient while 77.4% were found to have low Hct. In 87.1 % of the respondents, transferrin saturation was found to be abnormal.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this study iron deficiency anemia is quite prevalent in the university community especially among pregnant women. The fetus's and newborn infant's iron status depends on the iron status of the pregnant woman and therefore, iron deficiency in the mother-to-be means that growing fetus probably will be iron deficient as well. Thus iron deficiency anemia during pregnancy in well-educated set up needs more attention by the concerned authorities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Clinical Pharmacy, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Asia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Taha
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
authors.forename: Saira
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Azhar
authors.affiliation: King Abdul-Aziz Hospital, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Talib
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lone
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
authors.forename: Ghulam
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Murtaza
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
authors.forename: Shujaat Ali
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Abbottabad 22060, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Amara
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mumtaz
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
authors.forename: Muhammad Hassham Hassan Bin
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Asad
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
authors.forename: Rozina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kousar
authors.affiliation: University College of Pharmacy, University of Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Sabiha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Karim
authors.affiliation: University College of Pharmacy, University of Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Imran
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tariq
authors.affiliation: University College of Pharmacy, University of Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Syed Saeed
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Ul Hassan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
authors.forename: Izhar
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hussain
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018798:Anemia, Iron-Deficiency / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006176:Gynecology; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000172:deficiency; D006801:Humans; D009774:Obstetrics; D010045:Outpatients; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D013333:Student Health Services; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D006454:Hemoglobins
keywords: Female; Hemoglobin; Iron deficiency Anemia (IDA); Reproductive Age