Todak Taba1, Nabakishore Singh Naorem2, Gyaneshwar Singh Waikhom3, Helen Kamei4, Romita Ningthoukhongjam5, Dimpy Begum6
BACKGROUND
Anaemia in pregnancy continues to be a major public health problem with 54.96% of the pregnant population suffering from it in our setup. Despite the National Anaemia Prophylaxis Programme, anaemia complicating pregnancy continues to be a widespread problem with adverse effects on maternal and foetal outcome.
The aim of the study is to find out an alternate iron therapy in the form of intravenous iron-sucrose and to determine its therapeutic effectiveness, safety and compliance in the management of anaemic expectant mother and to compare it with that of conventional oral iron therapy.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study was a randomised controlled clinical trial carried out in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in collaboration with the Department of Biochemistry, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Imphal. 100 pregnant women in second or third trimester with mild or moderate anaemia were selected, 50 as study group (intravenous iron) and 50 as controls (oral iron). Initial evaluation included complete blood count and serum ferritin level and reevaluated on the 14th and 28th day of initiation of therapy.
RESULTS
Majority of patients (42%) in the study as well as control group were between 26-30 years of age. The mean ± SD increase in haemoglobin and ferritin levels on 28th day were 2.66 ± 0.34 gm/dL and 27.65 ± 1.80 ng/mL in study group and 1.55 ± 0.23 gm/dL and 16.89 ± 0.76 ng/mL in control group respectively, both of which were statistically significant.
CONCLUSION
The mean haemoglobin and serum ferritin levels throughout the treatment were significantly higher in the intravenous iron-sucrose group than in the orally administered iron group and significantly higher number of patients achieved the target haemoglobin of 11.0 gm/dL after 28 days of treatment. This reduces the blood transfusion rates in pregnant women with severe anaemia near term.
