Prevalence and aetiologies of anaemia among first trimester pregnant women in Sri Lanka; the need for revisiting the current control strategies

Table 1 Baseline characteristics of the 3127 first trimester pregnant women participating in the study

Baseline characteristic		n	%
Maternal age	< 20	205	6.5
	20–24	636	20.1
	25–29	1106	35.0
	30–34	782	24.7
	35–39	370	11.7
	<=40	65	2.1
Ethnicity	Sinhala	2720	87.0
	Moor/Malay	365	11.7
	Other	42	1.2
Religion	Buddhist	2715	86.0
	Islam	380	12.0
	Catholic/Christian	47	1.5
	Hindu	15	0.5
	Other	0	0.0
Education level	Up to G.C.E Ordinary level	1872	60.2
	G.C.E Ordinary to G.C.E Advanced level	477	15.3
	Certificates or diplomas	454	14.6
	Graduate	306	9.8
Gravidity	Primigravid	973	30.8
Gravidity	Multigravida	2182	69.2
BMI	Underweight	509	16.6
	Normal	1002	32.7
	Overweight	490	16.0
	Obese	1064	34.7
History of anaemia	No	2519	79.6
	Yes, detected during an antenatal period of a previous pregnancy	380	12.0
	Yes, detected during postnatal period/ post-abortion of a previous pregnancy	56	1.8
	Yes, but not related to a pregnancy	159	5.0
Pre conceptional folic acid supplementation	Yes	1855	80.7
Pre conceptional folic acid supplementation	No	443	19.3
Antenatal folic acid supplementation	Yes	2977	94.6
Antenatal folic acid supplementation	No	169	5.4
History of diagnosed thyroid diseases	Yes	78	2.5
History of diagnosed thyroid diseases	No	3065	97.5
History of diagnosed liver diseases	Yes	7	0.2
History of diagnosed liver diseases	No	3136	99.8
History of diagnosed renal diseases	Yes	15	0.5
History of diagnosed renal diseases	No	3128	99.5
History of diagnosed autoimmune diseases	Yes	5	0.2
History of diagnosed autoimmune diseases	No	3138	99.8

ISSN: 1471-2393