Common morphologic type of anemia among pregnant teenagers in Western Uganda

Abstract

Background: Anemia remains a serious health burden all over the world, more so among pregnant women. A lot of morbidity and mortality has been attributed to anemia in pregnancy. The problem is even much bigger among special groups of pregnant women such as the teenagers. The common morphologic type of this obstetric complication however remains a mystery among several populations across the world. Methods: We carried out a cross-sectional study for three months; between August 2021 and October 2021. A total of 288 pregnant teenagers aged between 13 and 19 years attending antenatal care at Hoima Regional Referral Hospital (HRRH) in western Uganda were consecutively enrolled. Short interviewer-administered questionnaires and laboratory report forms were used to obtain data. Descriptive statistics using SPSS version 23 was applied to present the data. Results: 75 (26%) out of the 288 pregnant teenagers had anemia. Majority 40 (53.3%) had microcytic anemia, followed by normocytic anemia 25 (33.3%) while 10 (13.3%) had macrocytic anemia. Conclusions: Microcytic anemia remains the most common morphological type affecting pregnant teenagers at HRRH, western Uganda.