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depend o n the type of mo r b i dit y and especially in this study
wh et he r sUbjects had treated t he ms e l v e s .
A we l l recQ9n!sed f eature o f Illost non-vir a l infectious
mor b i d i t i es, particularly t he bacterial type s noted i n this
s tudy , is the like l i hood for t helll to become wo r s e and no t
be tter if not app ropriately treated. I n t he non-attending
subje cb' with t hese mor bidities, one woul d expect that the
associated physica l signs woul d become more f l o r id, or at
l e ast r e main t he same wi t h time . It i s more likely , that t he
t v a we e k time lapse woul d not low er the detection of t he se
infect ious disorders in t hese sUbj ects , es p ecia l l y since the
criteria for diag'los l s included a complementary collection of
sy mpt oms and s igns.
Haemoglobin l e vels in ne w mothers are not observe d to
c h an ge ma r ke d l y aft e r t he first postpartum we e k [ 2 43 ] . Th us
the ha emog l obin levels of non-atte nders see n two weeks later
c an be expected to be s im i l a r to levels t he y atta i ned at the
end of t he i r f i r s t t wo postpartum weeks unless signifi c ant
bleeding occurre d d uring t h i s pe r iod. The reported nature o f
t he lochia , howeve r d id no t indic a t e this to be s o . In fact
t he non-att e nd i ng SUbjects were more l i ke l y t o ha ve no lochia
at all, or lochia a lba. One ca n t herefore conclude reasona b ly
that the r ate o f de tect ion of postpartum anaemia i n this study
was not affecte d by t his time l im i t atio n .