Introduction: Currently, iodine deficiency is the world’s leading cause of preventable mental impairment, affecting an estimated 18 million babies each year. Iron deficiency anemia (IDA), the most prevalent nutritional deficiency, can have life-long effects on a child’s cognitive development and learning abilities and put women at greater risk of death during childbirth. Objective: To screen pregnant women for iodine and iron deficiency during early gestation and assess associated factors among pregnant women attending antenatal care clinic in Nekemte referral Hospital, 2017

Methods: Facility-based Cross-sectional study design was deployed to collect information from 300 Pregnant women (<20 gestation weeks) attending antenatal clinic from March to May, 2017. Interviewer-administered structured questionnaire was used to obtain information and blood samples were collected from pregnant women for estimation of hemoglobin and thyroid function test after getting written consent. Data was entered to Epi info version 3.5.3, cleaned and analyzed using SPSS version 20. Bivariate and Multivariable analysis were used to examine the association between dependent and independent variables. Odds ratios (ORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) was calculated. significance was declared at P-value 0.05.

Result: A total of 300 pregnant women were interviewed and blood sample collected from them for Iron and thyroid function test with a response rate of 90.1%. Mean hemoglobin of the study subjects was 13.2±1.3 g/dl and only 6 (2.0%) of the pregnant women had hemoglobin concentrations below normal range. Among the study subjects 14(4.7%) have Subclinical Hypothyroidism (SCH). Excess menstrual bleeding, educational level of the pregnant mother and hand washing facility near the latrine were among variables linearly correlated with hemoglobin level of the pregnant women. Husband occupation, presence of Radio in the household, presence of television in their house and treating drinking water at household level were among factors associated with development of Hypothyroidism.

Conclusion and Recommendation:

The prevalence of anemia in this study is 2%, this figure is very low when compared with EDHS 2016. This study shows hemoglobin level is affected by marital status, educational level of the mother and history of excess menstrual bleeding. In this study Subclinical Hypothyroidism (SCH) among pregnant women in early gestation is significant 14(4.7%) above the expected 2.5% of American thyroid association cut point. So, health workers should always update pregnant women on importance of consuming iron rich food and proper utilization of iodized salt. Health workers shall also teach pregnant women on personal and environmental hygiene.