Research Article - Journal of Nutrition and Human Health (2018) Volume 2, Issue 2

Assessment of dietary pattern and factors that affect hemoglobin concentration of third trimester pregnant women at Ambo Governmental Health Institutions, Ethiopia.

Introduction: Iron deficiency and anemia resulting from iron deficiency is considered to be one of the top ten contributors to the global burden of disease. More than half of the pregnant women in the world suffer from anemia and it contributes to 40% of maternal death worldwide. The aim of this study was to assess the dietary pattern and factors that affect hemoglobin concentration of third trimester pregnant women. Methods: A cross-sectional study design and convenient sampling technique were used. 123 third trimester pregnant women were interviewed to assess their socio-demographic characteristics, dietary pattern, and clinical conditions. The hemoglobin values of the women were determined using Hemo Cue. Descriptive analysis and simple linear regression were used. Results: About 35.8% of the pregnant women were anemic. The mean age [years] of the pregnant women was 25.8 ± 5.4 [SD] and 55.3% were multiparous. The most commonly consumed food by the subjects was cereals [98.4%] and coffee was found to be the most commonly consumed drink [93.5%]. Majority of the pregnant women [57.8%] had three meals a day. Maternal factors such as, dietary diversity score [β=0.517, p=0.001] and level of education [β=0.464, 95% CI: 0.241, 687, p=0.001] had positive linear relationship with hemoglobin. Whereas, factors such as the number of cups of tea taken per day [β=-0.476, 95% CI: -.792, -0.161, p=0.003], consumption of legumes [β=-0.813, p=0.001] and roots and tubers [β= -0.828, p=0.001] were negatively associated with maternal hemoglobin concentration. The adj. R2 is 0.396 indicating that these factors explain 39.6% of the variation in hemoglobin concentration of the study participants. Conclusion: The dietary pattern and nutritional status of third trimester pregnant women were associated with maternal hemoglobin concentration.

Author(s): Kefiyalew J , Eshetu G

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