Anemia among pregnant women in the Asir region Saudi Arabia: an epidemiologic study.

A cross-sectional study conducted among 6539 pregnant women in southwestern Saudi Arabias Asir region pointed to a need for health education campaigns aimed at preventing anemia. The study subjects were recruited from 69 primary health care centers chosen on the basis of a proportional allocation multistage random sampling technique. 2088 women (31.9%) were found to be anemic defined as a hemoglobin level below 11 gm/dl. Prevalence was 21.6% among women in the first trimester of pregnancy 30.6% among those in the second trimester and 38.4% among women in the final trimester. There was a significant association between anemia and parity with the lowest rate recorded among primiparous women (30.6%) and the highest among women with 7 or more live births (34.9%). Also significant was the association with birth spacing. Women whose last birth was more than 3 years earlier had a 27.3% prevalence of anemia while that among women who had a spacing of less than a year was 35.2%. Finally the prevalence of anemia was significantly higher among illiterate women (35.1%) than among women with some education (30.1%). Although iron supplementation is routinely offered to anemic women attending primary health care centers for prenatal care its side effects produce a low compliance rate. Urged in addition are nutrition counseling and group discussions aimed at correcting false beliefs providing recipes for high protein snacks and emphasizing the importance of iron for maternal and infant health.