{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,8]],"date-time":"2026-10-08T13:45:07Z","timestamp":1791467107035,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,3,15]],"date-time":"2020-03-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1584230400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nutrients"],"abstract":"<jats:p>As anemia remains a major public health problem in Ghana, we examined the effect of dietary intakes, and antenatal care (ANC) practices on red cell indices and anemia prevalence during the pregnancy continuum for 415 women. Dietary history was taken using the Food and Agriculture Organization minimum dietary diversity indicator for women (MDD-W). Intake of \u22655 food groups was a proxy for micronutrient adequacy. Odds for anemia and meeting the MDD-W were estimated using ordinal and binary logistic regressions respectively. Intakes of 41.4% were micronutrient inadequate. At any time point in pregnancy, 54.4% were anemic (mild = 31.1%; moderate = 23.1%; severe = 0.2%) with 10%-point variation across the first (57.3%), second (56.4%) and third (53.3%) trimesters and pre-delivery (47.7%); 27.8% were anemic throughout pregnancy while 17.1% were never anemic. Morphologically, microcytic (79.4%) and hypochromic (29.3%) anemia were most prevalent, indicating nutritional deficiencies. Planning the pregnancy was a significant determinant for meeting the MDD-W. Overall, adolescence, poor diet, suboptimum ANC and underweight were associated with moderate and severe anemia. In specific time-points, dietary counselling, malaria, iron-folic acid supplementation, sickle cell disease and preeclampsia were observed. Decline of anemia during pregnancy suggests the positive impact of ANC services and supports strengthening education on dietary diversification during ANC.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nu12030777","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,3,17]],"date-time":"2020-03-17T09:27:41Z","timestamp":1584437261000},"page":"777","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":35,"title":["Maternal Dietary Intakes, Red Blood Cell Indices and Risk for Anemia in the First, Second and Third Trimesters of Pregnancy and at Predelivery"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7707-5658","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Faith","family":"Agbozo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Family and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Health Sciences, Ho, Ghana. Private Mail Bag 31 Ho, Ghana"},{"name":"Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, University Hospital Heidelberg Germany. Im Neuenheimer Feld 130.3, 60120 Heidelberg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7906-9419","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Abdulai","family":"Abubakari","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Public Health Department, University for Development Studies, Tamale Ghana. P. O. Box TL 1350 Tamale, Ghana"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Joyce","family":"Der","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Health Sciences, Ho, Ghana. Private Mail Bag 31 Ho, Ghana"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Albrecht","family":"Jahn","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, University Hospital Heidelberg Germany. Im Neuenheimer Feld 130.3, 60120 Heidelberg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,3,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"WHO (2015). The Global Prevalence of Anaemia in 2011, World Health Organization."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"495","DOI":"10.3945\/ajcn.115.107896","article-title":"Maternal anemia and risk of adverse birth and health outcomes in low-and middle-income countries: Systematic review and meta-analysis, 2","volume":"103","author":"Rahman","year":"2016","journal-title":"Am. J. Clin. 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