Should pregnant women fast to check for anemia?

Pregnancy is probably the period when most people go to the hospital. Physical examinations are required every once in a while to determine the development of the fetus and the health of the pregnant woman herself. Anemia, for example, is also an item that needs to be checked. Many people believe that the examination requires fasting, but this is not the requirement for anemia tests in pregnant women. It does not check the sugar content in the blood, but diagnoses anemia by examining various cells in the blood.

1. Do pregnant women need to fast for anemia testing?

Pregnant women do not need to fast for anemia testing. Pregnant women are diagnosed with anemia through routine blood tests. This mainly tests the number and morphology of cells such as red blood cells, white blood cells, hemoglobin and platelets in the blood. The accuracy of the test results has nothing to do with eating, so do not check on an empty stomach. Criteria for judging based on routine blood tests: When serum ferritin is lower than 12 micrograms/liter or hemoglobin is lower than 110 grams/liter, pregnant women can be diagnosed with anemia.

2. Precautions for anemia examination in pregnant women

1. Wear loose clothing

It is best for pregnant women to wear clothes with loose sleeves on the day of the examination to facilitate rolling up the sleeves when drawing blood from the vein. The clothes should be clean to prevent pinhole infection.

2. Press after blood collection

After blood collection, you should straighten your forearm and use your other hand to press the hemostatic cotton ball tightly for at least 5 minutes. Do not bend your elbow to stop the bleeding, and do not twist the cotton ball to avoid subcutaneous bruising. If there is bruising around the stye, you can apply hot compress after 24 hours. To avoid infection, do not let the needle hole get wet for 24 hours.

3. Eat a light diet

The day before a pregnant woman has an anemia test, she should eat a light diet, avoid overeating, eat less spicy food, and refrain from drinking alcohol.

3. What are the items for anemia examination in pregnant women?

1. Trace element inspection

If the expectant mother wants to know the exact amount of iron in her body, she needs to do a trace element test, which can confirm the content of trace elements in the body.

Methods for trace element examination: hair or blood. Because hair has a special affinity with trace elements, hair can reflect the level of trace elements in the human body over a period of time or one or two months, while blood can only reflect the level of trace elements in the human body instantly or one or two days, so hair testing is more accurate than blood testing.

2. Peripheral blood and bone marrow analysis

If a pregnant woman wants to confirm whether she has thalassemia, she can also do a peripheral blood and bone marrow analysis. If the peripheral blood results show that the average cell volume is >94fl, the average red blood cell hemoglobin is >32pg, the neutrophils are hypersegmented, and the reticulocytes are normal. Combined with the results of bone marrow analysis, the diagnosis can basically be confirmed if the red blood cells are relatively large, the nuclear chromatin is loose, and the bone marrow blood smear shows an increase in megaloblasts.

3. Three tests for anemia

If a pregnant woman wants to determine the type of anemia she has, she needs to undergo three tests: blood count, reticulocyte count, and fecal occult blood test. These three tests determine the type of anemia by checking the serum ferritin concentration, folic acid, and vitamin B12 content in the blood.