ASSOSIATION BETWEEN ANEMIA AND PREECLAMPSIA IN PREGNANT WOMEN IN FAISALABAD, PUNJAB PAKISTAN 2025

Abstract

The topmost pregnancy complications are preeclampsia and anemia that also lead to negative maternal and death outcomes. This paper set out to examine the correlation between the preeclampsia and anemia among pregnant women at Faisalabad in Punjab in Pakistan. In a number of selected hospitals, a retrospective cohort study was carried out and 246 pregnant women with diagnosis of anemia were recruited. Sociodemographic data, history of gestation and associated diseases and levels of hemoglobin and blood pressure level were also noted. The average age of the participants is 28 years, and most women lived in big cities. Out of the study population, 20.4 percent of patients had earlier history of preeclampsia. According to the level of hemoglobin severity, 20.3 percent of the participants presented with a severe condition of anemia (<7 g/dL), 47.1 percent with moderate-level anemia (710 g/dL), and 34.1 percent with mild-level anemia (1012 g/dL). Although 126 participants showed normal values of blood pressure and 72 participants showed low blood pressure, 50 women (20.3 %) had developed hypertension in pregnancy, which satisfies the criteria of preeclampsia. Interestingly, 50.8 percent of women were using iron or nutritional supplements and on the other hand, 49.2 percent of women were not using any supplementation during pregnancy. The results of statistical tests on the Pearson Chi-square test (p = 0.250, 2 = 1, p = 1.325) and the Fisher Exact test (p = 0.304) did not show an association (statistically significant) between anemia and preeclampsia. The co-occurrence of anemia with preeclampsia was found; however, the lack of the statistically significant contribution of the two phenomena to each other implies that other risk factors are underlying the development of preeclampsia to a greater extent. These results provide evidence on the need to identify anemia that causes anemia -related hypertensive conditions at an earlier stage, nutritional interventions, and the importance of combined antenatal care to minimize the incidence of anemia -related hypertensive effects of pregnancy in resource-poor nations.