KNOWLEDGE OF ANAEMIA IN PREGNANCY AND PATTERN OF CHRONIC DISEASES AMONG ANTENATAL CLINIC ATTENDEES IN SOUTHWEST NIGERIA

Abstract

Anaemia affects about one-third of the global population. There has been a steady global rise in the prevalence of chronic conditions among people of all ages, and at least one in every ten pregnant women has a pre-existing medical condition. This study aimed to assess knowledge of anaemia and the pattern of chronic diseases among pregnant women attending the antenatal clinic at a Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido-Ekiti. The study was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido-Ekiti, over a period of three months. A sample size of 277 was determined, and a response rate of 97% was observed during data collection. Study participants were recruited using systematic sampling on each antenatal clinic (ANC) day from August to October, 2023. A semi-structured, interviewer-administered questionnaire on knowledge of anaemia in pregnancy and the pattern of chronic diseases was used to obtain relevant information from the recruited subjects. All collected data were entered into IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.0 for analysis. Exact 77.8% of respondents demonstrated a good level of knowledge regarding anaemia in pregnancy, whereas only 22.2% had poor knowledge. The distribution of chronic illnesses among pregnant women showed that hypertension (6.7%), diabetes mellitus (2.6%), and asthma (2.2%) were the predominant chronic conditions. There was good knowledge of anaemia among respondents; there is still a need for continuous health education to ANC attendees in Nigeria. Pattern of chronic illnesses among pregnant women in this study revealed hypertension in pregnancy as dominant, followed by diabetes mellitus. Improved knowledge of anaemia among pregnant women regarding preventive practices, early detection, and effective management of anaemia and chronic diseases in pregnancy is a crucial step toward reducing multiple pathologies in pregnancy among Nigerian women.