Abstract:
ABSTRACT
Background: Anemia in newborn babies can be severe to an acute life-threatening event. If
untreated, it leads to impairment in brain development, lack of oxygen in organs and tissues,
poor school performance in the later years. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the burden of newborn
anemia ranges from 23 – 66%. However, in Ethiopia, there is limited information regarding
its prevalence and associated factors.
Objective: To assess the prevalence and associated factors of anemia among full term
newborn babies at University of Gondar compressive specialized referral hospital, northwest
Ethiopia.
Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted from February 1 to April 30, 2019 among
192 full term newborn babies. Systematic random sampling technique was employed to select
study participants. Socio-demographic characteristics and maternal clinical data were
collected using questionnaire and reviewing medical records. Then cord and maternal venous
blood were collected for complete blood count and analyzed using Sysmex KX-21N
hematology analyzer. After checking completeness, data were entered in to Epi Info 7.2.1 and
transferred to SPSS 20 for analysis. Frequencies, percentages, median and interquartile range
were used to summarize descriptive data. To determine associated factors of newborn
anemia, we used bivariable and multivariable logistic regression. Odds ratio with 95% CI was
used to determine strength of association. P-value <0.05 was considered as statistically
significant.
Result: The median (interquartile range) of cord hemoglobin was 15 (13.93 -16.2)g/dL. From
192 newborn babies, 48 (25%) were anemic. Based on morphology, majority (87.5%) of
anemia was normocytic normochromic type and the remaining was microcytic hypochromic
anemia type. Anemia was associated with maternal vegetable consumption habit (AOR =
0.34, 95%CI: 0.17, 0.69).
Conclusion: Anemia among newborn babies found to be a moderate public health problem.
Mothers who consumed vegetable were preventing the occurrence of newborn anemia. We
recommend that early screening of newborn anemia may be reducing further complication.
