Anaemia, Morphological Classification and Its Associated Risk Factors Among Lactating Mothers at Mbarara City Council Health Centre IV, Southwestern Uganda

PURPOSE: The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of anaemia, morphological classification and its associated risk factors among the lactating mothers accessing postnatal care at Mbarara City Health Centre IV, Southwestern Uganda. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted at Mbarara City Health Centre IV among 264 participants. A structured questionnaire was used to capture characteristics of study participants. 4 mL of venous blood was collected from each participant for complete blood count (CBC) and peripheral blood smear (PBS). CBC was done using hematology analyzer (BC-2800 Mindray Hematology Analyzer) while PBS were taken for participants with hemoglobin (Hb) <12.0g/dl and stained using Giemsa–Maygrunwald stain. Bivariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression were used to determine the associations between factors and anaemia. A p-value of <0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of anaemia was 65 (24.6%), with mean hemoglobin (Hb) concentration of 12.5g/dL. Out of the anaemic participants (24.6%), morphological classifications of anaemia were as follows: normocytic normochromic 27 (41.5%), microcytic hypochromic 20 (30.8%), normocytic hypochromic 16 (24.1%) and macrocytic normochromic 2 (3.1%). According to the severity of anaemia, majority had mild anaemia 52 (80%), moderate anaemia was 11 (16.9%), and severe anaemia was 2 (3.1%). The following risk factors were significantly associated with anaemia: duration of lactation (between 5 to 8 months, p-value 0.017, 95% CI (0.12–0.82) and alcohol consumption (p-value 0.032, 95% CI (1.12–12.16). The rest of the variables had no association with anaemia. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of anaemia among lactating mothers is high and it is a moderate public health problem as defined by WHO. Nutrition promotion, and health education, may be the ideal way to reduce the prevalence of anaemia in this region.