232 Document heading Hematological profile of pregnant women in southwest of Nigeria Osonuga IO 1 , Osonuga OA 2,3* , Onadeko AA 1 ,Osonuga A 3 , Osonuga AA 4 1 Department of Physiology, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Nigeria 2 Department of Pharmacology, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Nigeria 3 School of Medical Sciences, University of Cape-coast, Ghana 4 Department of Nursing, University of Cape-coast, Ghana Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Disease (2011)232-234 Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Disease journal homepage:www.elsevier.com/locate/apjtd *Corresponding author: Osonuga Ayokunle, University of Cape-coast, School of Medical Sciences, Ghana. Olabisi Onabanjo University, Nigeria. E-mail: overcomers2007@yahoo.com 1. Introduction Pregnancy outcome is influenced by many factors some of which include culture, environment, socioeconomic status and access to medical care. The hematological profile of pregnant women also has an impact on pregnancy and the outcome of the pregnancy [1-3] . The most common hematological indices are the indicators of hemoglobin concentration. Low hemoglobin in the blood (anemia) is widely identified as a hematologic abnormality and it is associated with adverse pregnancy outcome [4] . Anemia in women is variously defined with two most common being, either as a hemoglobin concentration less than 11. 0 g/dL or less than the 5th percentile of the distribution, and is based on sex, age and stage of pregnancy (among pregnant women) [4] . In a cohort study conducted by Harrison on pregnant women in Southern Nigeria and those from South India in 1996, he found that mortality rate was proportional to the period of their pregnancy. Those at the late stage of pregnancy were vulnerable to complaints and consequently death might follow [5] . Anemia contributes to low birth weight and miscarriages and it is also a primary cause of low immunity of both the mother and the child, which makes them vulnerable to several infections [6] . Malaria infection especially in the first and second trimesters has been implicated in adverse pregnancy outcomes. It causes 3%-5% of maternal anemia cases. About 50 million pregnant women are exposed to malaria especially in the high endemic regions [7,8] . The hematological status in pregnant women can be analyzed by collection of blood samples during each of the three trimesters, measuring different variables such as packed cell volume (PCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), red blood cell (RBC) count, white blood cell (WBC) count, hemoglobin concentration, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and platelet count [4] . The study was aimed to determine the effect of pregnancy on hematological indices and compare the hematological ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: Received 15 April 2011 Received in revised form 25 May 2011 Accepted 10 July 2011 Available online 28 September 2011 Keywords: Pregnant women Hematological parameters Trimesters Hematological profile Pregnancy Venous blood Objective: To evaluate the values of some major hematological parameters at different trimesters of pregnancy. Methods: The research involved 33 healthy pregnant women as the study group and 11 non-pregnant women as control. The age range of these women was 20-40 years. Ethical approval was obtained from Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu. Three milliliters of venous blood collected from the median cubital vein with minimum stasis were put into K + EDTA bottle. The blood was properly mixed and analyzed for packed cell volume (PCV), total white cell count, differential counts and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). Hematology was done according to standard methods. Results: The result showed that study group exhibited statistically significant lower values of PCV, monocyte and lymphocyte while WBC, eosinophil and ESR were not significantly changed. There was no significant difference in all hematological parameters among the three trimesters. Conclusions: Healthy pregnancy may have effect on hematological parameters. Therefore, there is a need to monitor these parameters during pregnancy. We also find that stages of pregnancy have no influence on hematological parameters. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect