Relationship between Anaemia during Pregnancy and Postpartum Haemorrhage: A Case from Saudi Arabia

Background: Anemia during pregnancy is an important cause of morbidity and mortality among postpartum women. The main reason for the condition is dietary Iron deficiency and the most common type of anemia found in women during pregnancy is iron deficiency anemia. Among many complications, postpartum hemorrhage is a problem linked with anemia during pregnancy. In Saudi Arabia, pregnancy and postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) is not common but still, cases are reported. The present study aimed to determine its prevalence in population and to see its relationship with anemia during pregnancy.

Methods: It was an analytical cross-sectional study in which the data was collected from women using properly designed questionnaires. The study population was women who got pregnant and delivered in main hospitals of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The data of respondents for demographical and clinical variables were collected and analyzed using SPSS using appropriate statistical tests.

Results: 600 participants responded to the questionnaire. The mean age was 26.32 years. The prevalence of PPH among studied population was 11.9%. Anemia during pregnancy was found to be positively associated with PPH with the p value of 0.0039. Smoking history was also correlated with PPH. There was no strong association between age and increase risk of PPH.

Conclusion: This study concluded that PPH is not common in Saudi Arabia. There is a moderate association of anemia during pregnancy and PPH. Smoking is also a positive predictor for PPH. There are some limitations in the study so there is a need of large-scale study to confirm the findings in the population.