Effect of treatment of anaemia in pregnancy with oral haematinics on pregnancy outcomes at Kenyatta National Hospital

Objective: To assess the effect of treatment of anaemia in pregnancy with oral haematinics on pregnancy outcome.Design: Prospective cohort study.Setting: Kenyatta National Hospital.Participants: The exposed were pregnant women with haemoglobin (Hb) concentration of 6-10g/dl at 28-34 weeks of gestation recruited sequentially and the unexposed were pregnant women with Hb ≥11g/dl individually matched by age, parity and gestational age to the exposed.Interventions: The exposed received Ranferon one capsule twice daily and the unexposed received one capsule once daily.Main outcome measures: Haematological response, weight gain and body mass index (BMI) over the pregnancy period, estimated blood loss at delivery, participants’ temperature 24 hours post-delivery and foetal outcome (birth weight and Apgar score).Results: There were 69 exposed and 69 unexposed women available for analysis. After four weeks of treatment, 78.3% of the exposed had Hb ≥11g/dl. In addition, statistically significant differences in the mean increase in Hb concentration, mean corpuscular volume and mean corpuscular haemoglobin between the exposed and unexposed were observed (P