Paper Title
A Study of Vitamin B12 Deficiency in Anemia in Pregnancy

Abstract
Anemia is one of the most commonly encountered medical disorders during pregnancy. Nutrition Foundation of India has recognized anemia of pregnancy as a major public health problem leading to high maternal morbidity and mortality, low birth weight and high infant mortality. Although anemia is mainly due to iron and folic acid deficiency, in recent years role of vitamin B12 has been highlighted. There is always a concern regarding the prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency in anemic pregnant females due to paucity of studies. Current study consisted of cross-sectional evaluation of pregnant women with anemia (WHO defined hemoglobin <11.0 gm%) for the prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency. A total of 257 anemic pregnant women were enrolled with mean age of 26.33+4.70 years (18-45), two-third (68%) of which were from rural area, more than half from lower class. Majority (74%) of them were vegetarian and nearly half of them were from age group 20-25 years although no statistically significant association was found between dietary pattern or age group with Vitamin B12 deficiency. Mean value of vitamin B12 level was 197.39 pg/ml (29-1500). Taking 200 pg/ml as the cut-off level, 67% of them were deficient in vitamin B12. On comparing the groups based upon vitamin B12 level with anemia grade, it was found that more number of women were having mild or moderate grade anemia as compared to severe or very severe grade anemia and this was statistically significant (p=0.032). The current study may provide useful inputs to National Anemia Control Programme and may help to evolve appropriate guidelines for adequate supplementation of vitamin B12 during pregnancy, though large scale studies are required to predict national prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency during pregnancy. Keywords— Pregnancy, Anemia, Vitamin B12 Deficiency, Prevalence, Supplementation.