An appraisal of routine Antenatal laboratory parameters at booking in Bowen University Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso, Oyo State Nigeria

Antenatal care (ANC) involves a planned and coordinated medical and psychosocial support that optimally begins before conception and extends throughout the antepartum period. Routine laboratory tests at booking are part of this range of evidence-based interventions to ensure healthy mothers and infants.  The usual recommended routine ANC laboratory tests in low resource countries include; packed Cell Volume (PCV), Blood/Rhesus group, Hemoglobin genotype, Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and urinalysis. A review of Antenatal booking investigation results of consecutive presenting pregnant women at Bowen University Teaching Hospital (BUTH), Ogbomoso between January 1, 2019 and June 30, 2021 were analyzed alongside with other relevant information such as age, parity, occupation, level of education, year of last childbirth. Eight hundred and fifty-two pregnant women participated in the study, out of which 522 (61.3%) were <30 years while 312 (36.6%) and 18 (2.1%) were 30-39 years and ≥40 years respectively. Most of the women were age 20 – 29 years (60.6%) and only 2 (0.7%) were teenagers. Majority of the participants had parity of 1-4 (94.7%) while only 33 were grand multiparous. A total of 387 (45.4) women had normal PCV while 465 (54.6) had a PCV in the range of mild to moderate anaemia. None was severely anaemic.  The commonest blood group was ‘O’ 390 (45.7%). Most of the mothers 771 (90.4%) were Rhesus D positive while 81 (9.6%) of them were negative. Only three women were positive for HIV while 6 and 78 women had a positive VDRL and HbSAg test results respectively. Most of the women are young (<40 years), have blood group O rhesus D positive and were anaemic at booking. Most of the participants are non-reactive to VDRL, HIV and HBsAg tests. The high percentage of anaemic cases in this study have justified the critical role of routine ANC laboratory tests in providing prompt detection and thus modification or management of pre-existing conditions or risk factors that may influence the course and outcome of pregnancy and labour.