The role of haematological indices in predicting early iron deficiency among pregnant women in an urban area of Sri Lanka

Table 2 Distribution of red cell indices according to the iron status of pregnant women (N = 90)

Red cell indices	Women with iron deficiency SF < 30 μg/L N = 63 Mean ± SD	Women with sufficient iron stores SF ≥30 μg/L N = 27 Mean ± SD	p value
Hb (g/dL)	11.9 ± 1.1	12.4 ± 1.0	0.038^*
MCV (fl)	82.2 ± 6.6	85.2 ± 4.8	0.028^*
MCH (pg)	26.7 ± 1.1	28.1 ± 1.1	0.016^*
MCHC (g/dl)	32.7 ± 0.9	33.1 ± 0.7	0.040^*
RDW (%)^a	12.6 ± 1.1	12.3 ± 1.0	0.197
RBC (× 10⁹/L)	4.4 ± 0.3	4.3 ± 0.5	0.245
PCV (%)	36.4 ± 2.9	37.2 ± 3.0	0.218

Abbreviations: N number of pregnant women, SD standard deviation, Hb haemoglobin, MCV mean corpuscular volume, MCH mean corpuscular haemoglobin, MCHC mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration, RDW red blood cell distribution width and RBC red blood cells
^* Significantly different (p < 0.05)
^a Geometric mean

ISSN: 2052-1839