Abstract :
Anemia is one of the world?s health problem for productive aged-women in particular. WHO states that the prevalence of anemia in pregnant women through out the world is 41.8%. Anemia in pregnant women can increase the risk of underweight babies, miscarriage, premature birth, and maternal and neonatal deaths. The objective of the research was to discover the correlation of knowledge about nutrition and KEK (Lack of Chronic Energy) with anemia in pregnant women in Muara I, Health Centre Lhokseumawe, in 2018..
This research is a cross-sectional for 90 pregnant women as samples. The research was done in Muara I Health Centre Lhokseumawe in December 2017. Sample was taken by employing simple random sampling technique. Independent variables were knowledge of nutrition and KEK, while dependent variable was anemia in pregnant women. The data of knowledge was obtained through questionnaires, and the data of KEK was obtained through LILA (Upper Arm Circumference Measurement) using LILA tape. The data of anemia was obtained from the measurement of hemoglobin in pregnant women by using Easy Touch GHB. The data was analyzed by using univariate and bivariate analysis. Bivariate analysis was done by using Chi-square test.
The results of the research demonstrated 60% of knowledge about nutrition was not good, 63.3% of the respondents had KEK and 54.4% of the pregnant women had anemia. The results of Chi-square analysis showed that there was a correlation of knowledge (p = 0.008; PR = 3.538; 95% CI 1.461-8.571) and KEK (p = 0.000; PR = 13.821; 95% CI 4.738-40.320) with anemia in pregnant women in Muara I Health Centre, Lhokseumawe.
It is recommended that the management in a health center be more active in conduct health counseling about the importance of consuming blood-booster tablets and monitoring the rate of hemoglobin during pregnancy.