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NUTRITIONAL CONSEQUENCES OF PARASITIC INFECTION DURING PREGNANCY

Obiezue, Nduka Rose, Okoye, Ikem C, Ikele Bright C & Okoh, Felicia N

The effects of gastro-intestinal helminth infection on nutritional status of pregnant women was investigated in a semi-urban community, southeast, Nigeria. A total of 282 pregnant and 243 non-pregnant women were enlisted for this study. Stool samples were examined for intestinal helminths using formalin-ether sedimentation technique. Haemoglobin (Hb) and Packed Cell Volume (PCV) levels were evaluated in venous blood samples using Sahli’s and microhaematocrit methods respectively. Anthropometry-based nutritional assessment of subjects was done to determine their body mass index (BMI). Nutritional assessment showed that only 34.4% of the pregnant women had normal BMI. BMI was found to increase significantly (p<0.05) with trimester of pregnancy. Haematological assessment showed that the mean Hb (9.66+ 1.22) and PCV (29.68 + 3.24) of pregnant women were significantly lower than those of their non pregnant counterparts (p<0.05). The prevalence of anaemia among pregnant women was 58.9%. Anaemia was found to be highest in the second trimester with a prevalence rate of 63.6%. The percentage of infected anaemic pregnant women (82.6%) was significantly higher (p<0.05) than those of the uninfected ones (54.2%). least level of nutrition during the first trimester and the primagravidae parity and anaemia was more severe during the second trimester. Greater public health attention should be paid to the impact of gastro-intestinal infection in pregnancy.