Sumita Tripathy, Bagmi Mishra
BACKGROUND Anaemia appears to be the rule rather than exception in our population. Females are most vulnerable and in pregnancy a woman is further pushed to an edge in this regard. Iron deficiency a preventable cause is the most common factor. Screening of the pregnant woman as early as possible and correcting anaemia is the priority of every clinician. Evaluation of CBC with the help of an automatic cell counter is immensely helpful in mass screening, much so in pregnant women where early detection with appropriate treatment will avoid many untoward effects both in mother and newborn. MATERIALS AND METHODS This is a Prospective study of pregnant women up to 20 weeks gestation. The Haematological evaluation done in Dept. of Pathology using 5-part cell counter, System XT-2000i. In all cases PS study done along with iron profile wherever possible. All the data were statistically analysed. RESULTS A total of 187 cases where analysed. Very strong association were observed between RDW-CV, Hb, MCV, MCH, MCHC & TRBC with IDA, in decreasing order of significance. RDW-CV was raised in 82.3% cases with iron deficiency and 22% cases in noniron deficient cases. CONCLUSION Though Iron Profile is gold standard for detection of iron deficiency anemia, RDW-CV is a reliable and useful parameter for screening and detecting early iron deficiency anemia during pregnancy.
