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Iron Status of Pregnant Women at First Antenatal Booking in Mbarara University Teaching Hospital

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 μg/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.