IRON DEFICIENCY ANAEMIA: FREQUENCY IN ADULT FEMALE PATIENTS VISITING TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Introduction: Iron deficiency anemia is the most frequent public health dilemma in our community. It had an extensive variety of unfavorable consequences like reduced performance, decreased intelligence, retarded growth in newborns, playgroup and school going youngsters, adult females of different age groups. Anemia also causes the impairment of physical capability, routine working ability of youngsters and grown-ups, decline in immune competency and amplified morbidity due to other diseases in every age of life are also related to Anaemia. Objective: The present clinical study was done to assess the prevalence of Iron Deficiency anemia (IDA) in adult female subjects visiting OPD at PMC Hospital Nawabshah. Study Design and Setting: Current study was cross sectional carried out in adult female patients visiting PMC Hospital Nawabshah District Shaheed Benazirabad (Nawabshah). Duration: One year from January 2017 to December 2017. Material and Methods: After taking informed written consent, brief history and clinical examination; samples were collected by simple sampling method, vacutainers (EDTA) were used for sample collection and analysed by using MEDONIC auto analyzer MERCK COMPANY. All the Red blood cell (RBC) parameters including the RBC count, Hct (Hematocrit), Hb (Hemoglobin), MCV (Mean Corpuscular volume), and MCHC (Mean Corpuscular hemoglobin concentration) were tested. All obtained data was analysed through SPSS software version 20.0. Results: Our study was based on 385 female subjects that were selected randomly from different areas attending the OPDs. The total frequency of anemic females was 203(52.7%) and non-anemic 182 (47.3%) were observed. The average Haemoglobin value of 10.5+3.88 was observed in anaemic subjects. The highest frequency of anemia was observed in young age group (20-40 years). Conclusion: The frequency of iron deficiency anemia in adult females is common in district Shaheed Benazirabad especially pregnant and lactating females are at increased risk to develop IDA in comparison to other categories. This warrants extra studies on a larger sample of healthy females to validate the findings and to care the wellbeing of these forthcoming mothers. Key words: Iron Deficiency Anaemia, Haemglobin, Red Blood Cell, Hematocrit