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find ing s a loe even Glo r e wor rying , a nd call fo r an ev aluation of
t he illlpacts of antenatal care on a naemi a i n pregnancy in t oe
co unt ry. The s t udy r e s ults , howeve r, suggest that controlling
anaemia i n mo the rs has t o go be yond pregnancy a nd i nt o the
postpa r tum peri od .
Bl ood l o s s a t l a bour coul d be i mplica ted i n t he
developme nt o t: a na emi 'll in ab out a quarter (27\ ) of s ubjects
fo un d t o be anaemic postpartunl an d whos e p re- deli very
h a emog l o b i n l eve l s we re also kn own . Blood l o s s a t del i very wa s
a lso identifi ed as one of the i mportant determinants of
postpartum an a emi a , and t herefore labour blood los s e s s:10u ld
not be i g nored as a n impor tant cau s e o f pos tpartum an aa ml a in
this populati on .
In gene ral, however , differ ences i n ha e moglobi n levels
before an d atter del ivery were no t foun d t o be statistically
s i g n i fic a n t in most SUbjects . Labour was a l s o not observed t o
have a gg ravated significa ntly the severity of anaemia i n s tUdy
SUbjects. Th i s findi ng could ha ve been d ue to t he fact tha t
the maj orit y o f SUb j ects he moccnc entr ated a fte r delivery . The
tre nd wa s parti c Ularly no t i c e able in SUbjects who presented
wi t h l ower p r e -delivery haemoglobin levels . It i s difficUlt ,
the r e fnre , to conc lude that l ab our blood l os s e s had i n a c tual
f a c t not influenc e d t h e haemoglobin l eve l s of SUbjects as
these results seen t o s ug g e s t.