Hematological Profile of Pregnant Women in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Pregnant women experience many changes, physiological or pathological, which are often reflected in their hematological indices. We hypothesized that there would be no significant variations in the mean FBC of pregnant and non-pregnant women, as well as no significant variations in the mean FBC of pregnant women during all trimesters. The study examines the differences in the hematological profiles of pregnant and non-pregnant women in Port Harcourt, in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Methods: The subjects were systematically sampled, comprising of 90 pregnant and 90 non-pregnant women, with ages ranging 16 to 45 years. Five milliliters of whole blood was collected from each subject at ambient temperature using standard venipuncture techniques and three milliliters were dispensed in an ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) bottle to determine the hematological parameters such as total white blood count (TWBC), red blood cell count (RBC), platelet count (PLT), hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean cell volume (MCV), mean cell hemoglobin (MCH), and mean cell hemoglobin concentration (MCHC). The t-test was used to compare the mean of the parameters among the pregnant and non-pregnant women. An analysis of variance was used to compare the means for the parameters within the three trimesters of pregnancy. The Tukey’s Post Hoc test was used to identify the trimester pairs that had a significant mean difference. The hematological parameters were analyzed using the Abacus 380 hematological analyzer. The data obtained were coded and analyzed using the SPSS version 20; data were considered significant at p≤0.05. Results: Comparison of pregnant women with controls showed that TWBC, monocytes, neutrophils, MCV, and MCH were significantly increased during pregnancy (p <0.05); while RBC count, hemoglobin, hematocrit and MCHC were significantly decreased (p<0.01). The following hematological parameters showed significant mean variation within the 3 trimesters: MCH (F=3.59, p=0.03) and MCHC (F=16.85, p<0.01). MCHC showed a significant difference between the first versus second trimesters (p≤0.01) and the 1st vs. 3rd trimesters (p≤0.01) thus, null hypotheses were rejected. Conclusion and Implications for Translation: The lower hematocrit and hemoglobin levels of pregnant women from Port Harcourt, Nigeria, when compared with the non-pregnant controls, implied that there is a need for more emphasis on the importance of prenatal vitamin supplementation during the antenatal period, perhaps leveraging prenatal counseling sessions. Proper supplementation may avert anemia in pregnancy, and consequently, the poor birth outcomes.