Full Length Research Paper

Haemorrheologic profiles in apparently healthy pregnant women in Calabar, Nigeria

M. Imoru¹* and A. O. Emeribe²

¹Department of Haematology and Blood Transfusion, Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, P. M. B. 3452, Kano, Nigeria.

²Haematology Unit, Faculty of Allied Medical Sciences, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: imorumomodu67@yahoo.com.  Tel: 08033174997.

Accepted 3 September, 2008

Rheological properties can be influenced by packed cell volume, plasma viscosity, red cell aggregation and red cell deformability. In order to assess haemorrheologic activity in pregnancy, 100 pregnant and 100 non-pregnant subjects (controls) of age range 18 - 40 years were studied to estimate packed cell volume (PCV), relative whole blood viscosity (RWBV), relative plasma viscosity (RPV) and plasma fibrinogen concentration (PFC) using standard manual techniques. PVC and RWBV were significantly lower in pregnant women than non-pregnant subjects (P< 0.001 and P< 0.02 respectively) while RPV and PFC were significantly higher in pregnant women than non-pregnant subjects (P< 0.001 and P< 0.001 respectively). RWBV had no correlation with the plasma fibrinogen concentration (r = 0.671, P > 0.05) while PFC and PCV in pregnant women had significant positive correlation with RPV and RWBV, respectively (r = 0.5149, P< 0.05 and r = 0.544, P< 0.05 respectively). There were significant differences in the values of RPV which increased with age (P < 0.01) while there were no significant differences in the values of PCV, RWBV and PFC with age groups (P> 0.05). In conclusion, haemorrheologic activity differs significantly in pregnancy due to decreased values of PCV, RWBV and increased values of RPV and PFC.

Key words: Haemorrheology, pregnancy, Calabar.