ANEMIA IN PREGNANCY - IS THE CURRENT DEFINITION MEANINGFUL

Objective: To determine if the current definition of antenatal anaemia (haemoglobin < 10 g/dl) has any clinical significance. Study design: A retrospective study on all singleton deliveries over a 3-year period in two teaching hospitals under one university department was conduct ed by the extraction of data from a computer database. The major pregn ancy complications and perinatal outcome were compared between mothers with and without anaemia and adjusted for parity. Results: The incide nce of multiparity was significantly higher in the 817 anaemia patient s compared to the 10 125 non-anaemia patients, but there was no differ ence in the incidence of other major antenatal complications, type of labour or mode of delivery, incidence of preterm delivery, or perinata l mortality or morbidity, after adjusting for parity. Among the anaemi a patients, those with thalassaemia trait (54.8%) had a significantly higher incidence of gestational glucose intolerance but the incidences of other complications and the perinatal outcome were similar to the iron deficiency patients. Conclusion: Antenatal anaemia, defined as a maternal haemoglobin of < 10 g/dl, does not adversely affect pregnancy outcome. This raises the question of whether the diagnosis of anaemia should be redefined.