ANAEMIA IN PREGNANCY IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Children and pregnant women in any community are the first to show signs of poor nutrition, and the picture presented by the public patients attending the antenatal clinic in Perth, Western Australia, gives no cause for complacency. Nutritional anæmia is common, shows a distinct seasonal incidence which can be related to a time of comparative food shortage with high prices, and is prevalent amongst racial minorities, especially the italian‐born. Seven per cent of all patients attending the antenatal clinic are iron deficient and 2% are folate deficient to a degree that causes the hæmoglobin level to fall below 10.0 gm/100 ml, but the actual incidence of deficiency may be presumed to be higher. Other causes of anæmia in pregnancy include thalassæmia, chronic pyelonephritis, infection and unexplained hæmolysis. One patient with megaloblastic anæmia was observed to have a low serum vitamin B 12 level, but laboratory investigations and her response to small doses of folic acid indicated that her disturbance of vitamin B 12 metabolism was secondary to folate deficiency. A scheme is outlined for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of anæmia in pregnancy.