Correlation between Clinical and Haematological Assessment of Anaemia Among Pregnant Women: An Institutional-Based Study Correlation between Clinical and Haematological Assessment of Anaemia Among Pregnant Women: An Institutional-Based Study Section Original Articles

Abstract

Background: Anaemia in pregnancy is a public health problem with grave consequences on the mother and the baby if not diagnosed early and treated. Clinical assessment of the signs and symptoms the patient present with may be used to commence management while awaiting haematological confirmation in order to prevent its complications. This study was carried out to ascertain if there is a good correlation between clinical and haematological assessment of anaemia. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study carried out at the antenatal clinic of the University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital Complex, Akure in Ondo State Nigeria where 400 women were recruited by systematic sampling. Structured questionnaires were used to collect their data, they had physical examinations done and their blood samples were also collected at recruitment for laboratory assessment of anaemia. Data was analysed using SPSS version 22. Descriptive analysis was done for relevant variables, Chi Square test and Multivariate Logistic Regression Model were used to find if there is a correlation between clinical and haematological assessment of anaemia. The level of significance was set at p<0.05. Results: Most of the study participants had tertiary level of education (275,68.8%), were traders (161, 40.3%), were nulliparous (142, 35.5%) and in their third trimester of pregnancy (257,64.1%). Many were not pale clinically (361,90.1%) and had normal blood pressure (349,87.3%) and pulse rate (396, 99%). On laboratory assessment 240(60%) were not anaemic while 160(40%) were anaemic using WHO criteria of haematocrit of less than 33% as anaemia. Most of those who were anaemic had mild anaemia. There was a good correlation between clinical and haematological assessment of anaemia among the study participants with a  Chi Square test, X² =2.24, p=0.012. The Multivariate logistic regression done to further ascertain a correlation between clinical and haematological assessment of anaemia showed statistically significant correlation among the tested parameters with p=0.000. Conclusion: The study showed a good correlation between clinical and haematological assessments of anaemia. This is re-assuring and confirms that with clinical diagnosis of anaemia one may commence management of anaemia before haematological results are available to reduce complications of anaemia that could be life threatening.