Prospective Study on Prevalence of Vitamin B12 Deficiency in First Trimester of Pregnancy

PROSPECTIVE STUDY ON PREVALENCE OF VITAMIN B12 DEFICIENCY IN FIRST TRIMESTER OF PREGNANCY Sumant R Shah, Urvashi Jain, Vishrut S Shah BJ Medical College, Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad Gujarat, a state on western coast of India is a state with more than 50 %percentage of vegetarian population based on SRS survey 2014. This study was conducted to evaluate the vitamin B12 status of women in first trimester of pregnancy and its relationship with socioeconomic, anthropometric and dietary intake of patient. Low Vitamin B12 concentration (less than200pg/ml) was observed in 62 % of the women. High maternal body mass index, vegetarian population was associated with significant vitamin B12 deficiency. The level of vitamin b12 deficiency was in only 9.37 % of vegetarian population. The vitamin B12 levels were significantly affected by the demographic factors.44 % of urban population and 20 % of rural population had normal vitamin B12 levels. A high prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency was found in early pregnancy among vegetarian population mainly residing in rural areas. Hence there should be implementation of vitamin b12 routine antenatal testing and administration of vitamin b12 accordingly.