Abstract

 
METHODOLOGY:  
Pregnant women who attended OPD or patients admitted in labor room; KGH, Vizag are opted for the study. Antenatal women with anemia are identified and subjected to blood tests like hemogram with peripheral smear, Sickling test and Hb electrophoresis and diagnosed cases of hemoglobinopathy are included in the study.
RESULTS
Most of the patients are in young age group between 20 to 30yrs of age.  Majority of the cases are booked patients who are diagnosed, followed up and managed in our hospital throughout their pregnancy.  78.33% of the patients are from tribal populations of Visakhapatnam.  Most of the patients are primigravida constituting about 48.33%  .Sickle cell trait is the common hemoglobinopathy observed in our study population.  Common obstetrical complications seen are preeclampsia and oligohydramnios. 11.6% had preterm labor and 15% had IUGR. Anemia was observed in 81.67% and blood transfusions are more common in sickle cell disease.  LSCS was the common mode of delivery and obstetrical causes are the common indications. Most of the patients carried till term and majority of patients had live births.  Most common neonatal complication was LBW.  Maternal mortality was 3.33%. Patients were known cases of sickle cell disease who succumbed to acute chest syndrome with ARDS and sepsis with AKI.  Neonatal mortality was observed to be in 3.7%. There were 54 live births.  Though incidence of the thalassemia minor is low in our study, the outcome of pregnancy in these variants is not a major obstetrical concern.  Pregnancy in sickle cell disease has various maternal, obstetrical and medical complications. So a multidisciplinary approach is essential to manage a pregnancy with sickle cell anemia