Comparative haematological screening of urban and rural pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in Lagos and its environs

A total of 200 rural and urban pregnant women attending the clinics for routine antenatal care were involved. The data collection began in June 1990 and ended in August 1990. The data gathering instrument was first pilot tested in the antenatal clinics of Lagos University Teaching Hospital. These findings enumerated from the study: About 6.8% of the rural women had moderate Anaemias 9.0-9.9gm% as compared to 1.4% of the urban women.

The MCHC fell progressively with the gestation age. The study showed 71.6% of the rural women had MCHC less than 33 compared to 60.8% urban women. The mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) is also reported to fall progressively with gestation (Belsey & Royston, 1987). Their hypothesis was supported by this study. The correlation coefficient was -0.02 and (p 0.01).

The PCV was also significantly correlated with gestation age r = 0.24 (p 0.01).