Pica Practice among Pregnant Ghanaians: Relationship with Infant Birth-Weight and Maternal HaemogloLin Level

Abstract

In this study the pica habit of 502 pregnant women were studied. II was found that 48.01% of the pregnant women had pica habit. Clay eating was the major form of pica practised by the pregnant women (28 .49%). Some of them also chewed wooden-sponge or wooden-stick (9.76%) more frequently. However a few of the pregnant women chewed cola nut (4.98%). uncooked maize dough (2.79%). chalk (1.20%). and fresh starch (0.80%). Multiple pica was not observed among our study population. Two main reasons were given by the pregnant women for eating cJay. One was to prevent salivation or vomiting (16.14%) while the other was because they liked its flavour (12.35%). Clay eating Significantly correlated with maternal haemoglobin concentration (r = -0.32). Pregnant women who ate clay had a Significantly lower mean haemoglobin concentration (11 .05 ± 0.59g/dl) than women who did not eat day (11.86 ± 0.49gfdl; p<O.05). Those who ate clay had persistently lower mean haemoglobin concentration throughout pregnancy than those who did not. The overall mean birth weight of the 502 singleton infants delivered by the pregnant women was 3.01 ± 0.50kg. There was no significant difference in the mean birth-weights of infants born to women who ate clay (2.99 ± 0.39kg) and those who did not eat clay at all (3.03 ± 0.51 kg) during pregnancy. Thus the observed level of day intake did not significantly affect infant birth-weight. Clay pica is shown by this study to be associated with low haemoglobin level. Medical doctors and dieticians should ask pregnant women with anaemia about pica habit. Education of women in general about the effects of pica and other habits must be intensified to reduce the prevalence of anaemia during pregnancy.