Al Ameen Journal of Medical Sciences (Jan 2018)
Study of relationship between anemia and urinary tract infection in pregnant women
Abstract
Background: Pregnancy is a state of decreased immunity .Physiological changes occurring in the pregnancy make women susceptible to urinary tract infection (UTI), more so in anemic pregnant women. The global prevalence of bacteriuria in pregnancy ranges from 4% to 23% in various studies. Maternal anemia has been associated with both asymptomatic bacteriuria and pyelonephritis. Materials and Method: This cross sectional study was conducted to determine the relationship of UTI with anemia in pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in tertiary centre, KIMS Hubli. A total of 100 pregnant women were enrolled in this study. The sample was divided into two study groups cases and controls. The cases group had Hb level of /= 10gm%. Hemoglobin estimation was done by sahli's method. Anemia was classified accordingly. UTI was diagnosed using mid stream urine (MSU) culture, using >105 colony forming unit per millilitre as significant level of bacteriuria. Result: The overall prevalence was found to be 26%. There was a high prevalence of UTI of about 40% in anemic pregnant women (whose Hb was <10 gm %) as compared to 12% in non anemic pregnant women (whose Hb was 10 gm %). The mean blood Hb was significantly lower in UTI case (8.2%). There was high prevalence in 21-25yrs age group and also in 2nd trimester (75%). Multiparity is associated with increased UTI in pregnancy. E.coli was most frequently isolated pathogen (61%). Conclusion: We can conclude that there is an association between UTI and anemia of different causes during pregnancy. There was a high risk of having anemia amongst the complicated pregnancy with UTI in association with their parity, age and gestational age.
