Multigravida Women With Moderate to Severe Anaemia in Third Trimester: Fetomaternal Outcomes

Background & Objectives: Anaemia has been reported to be associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, especially when presenting in the last trimester. In addition to prevalent common causes of anaemia in pregnant women, poor replenishment of iron stores after a pregnancy event is specific to women with higher birth orders. Anaemic women presenting in the third trimester are more prone to maternal complications such as infections, toxaemia, antepartum haemorrhage, cardiac failure, pre-eclampsia as well as fetal hazards too such as low birth weight, pre-term deliveries, developmental anomalies, and even neonatal death. When presented near term there are higher chances of feto-maternal morbidity and mortality. In the current study, analysis is done of feto-maternal outcomes, routes of delivery of women, causes of anaemia in multigravida women in the third trimester suffering from moderate to severe anaemia in a tertiary care centre of Western Rajasthan of India. Methods: A prospective observational clinical study was conducted on patients attending Geetanjali Hospital over a period of 18 months. A total of 70 consecutive multigravida pregnant women having moderate to severe anaemia in the third trimester were selected. Statistical analysis of the data collected was done and a p-value <0.05 was taken as significant. Results: Moderate and severe anaemia in the study population were 44.28% and 55.71%, respectively. The mean haemoglobin level of all study groups was 7.0 gm%. Pre-eclampsia, placenta praevia, postpartum haemorrhage (PPH), congestive cardiac failure (CHF), neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission, preterm birth (PTB), low birth weight (LBW), intrauterine death (IUD), low Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, and Respiration (APGAR) score, and birth asphyxia records were investigated. Of the patients studied, 18.57% had PPH, 15.71% had pre-eclampsia, 8.57% had IUD, and 37.14% newborns were LBW. Interpretations and Conclusion: Multiparity itself is a major risk factor of anemia. Anemia presenting in the third trimester of pregnancy is a proxy indicator of care received by gravid women in the early antenatal period. In combination, a multigravida in the third trimester with less time to restock iron and vitamin stores may result in considerable maternal as well as perinatal mortality and morbidity.