Iron Status of Pregnant Women at Nsukka, Enugu State, South East Nigeria
Authors: C. Uzoigwe Kelechukwu, , Okoroh Prince, N. , Anakor Divine, O. , Uzuegbu Ifeanyi, E. , Ekeke Kelechi, L. , Osuji Chigoziri, A. 
Published: January 2025

Background: Anaemia is a serious health issue, particularly in remote areas such as Nsukka, Enugu State, South East geopolitical zone of Nigeria as a result of poor awareness. A comprehensive study on the iron status of pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in Nsukka, is rare.
Objectives: The study aimed to evaluate the iron status of pregnant women living at Nsukka in Enugu State, South, East Nigeria via monitoring prevalence and severity of anaemia in pregnant women in first, second and third trimester using haemoglobin and ferritin concentration as bio- indicators of anaemia among the subjects, effect of age, gestational age and intake of routine drugs on haemoglobin and ferritin concentration of the subjects.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 127 pregnant women, within the ages of 20-49years, grouped based on the stages of pregnancy namely first trimester 30 pregnant women (23.6%), second trimester 40 pregnant women 31.5%, and third trimester 57 pregnant women (44.9%), attending antenatal clinic in Nsukka Divisional Health Centre were recruited for the study using simple random technique. All data and statistical analyses were conducted using Statistical Package for Social Sciences software, version 27. Descriptive statistics such as means and percentages were calculated and reported by groups.  Test of statistical significance was carried out using One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Pearson test was performed to assess the correlation between haemoglobin, ferritin concentrations with other stated variables.
Results: The age distributions of the 127 pregnant women were 20 – 24 years (26.8%), 25 – 29 years (37%), 30 – 34 years (20.4%), 35 – 39 years (12.6%), 40 -44 years (2.4%) and 45 – 49 years (0.8%). Study revealed that 39.4% of the pregnant women were anaemic because their    haemoglobin concentration was less than 11 g/dl. Exactly 27.6% of women were anaemic based on ferritin concentration below 15 µg/l. None of the subjects were anaemic in first trimester, 26% of the subjects were anaemic in second trimester while 11.3% of the subjects were anaemic in third trimester. Based on ferritin level alone, 66.6% of the subjects were anaemic in first trimester, 46% in second trimester while 53.5% of the subjects in third trimester were anaemic. Conversely, 16.7% of the subjects in first trimester, 22% in second trimester and 23.9% in third trimester were anaemic based on low haemoglobin and ferritin level respectively. Haemoglobin concentration significantly (p < 0.05) showed negative correlation with age effect and positive correlation with ferritin concentration although not significant (p > 0.05). Gestational age correlated with haemoglobin and ferritin concentration showed negative correlation which was not significant (p > 0.05). Intake of routine drug correlated with haemoglobin and ferritin respectively showed negative and positive correlation respectively, although not significantly different (p > 0.05).
Conclusion and Recommendations: Maternal iron status is heavily affected by pregnancy even in a high-resource, generally iron-supplemented population. Our study revealed that anaemia during pregnancy was highly prevalence in Nsukka, Enugu State because more than halve of the subjects screened were anaemic in both first, second and third trimester. Early screening of pregnant women for iron status using serum or plasma ferritin standard measure of iron deficiency according to the world Health Organization is highly encouraged. There is a need to educate and implement strategies that will improve iron status of pregnant women for the safety of the mother and the unborn child.