Introduction: Anemia is a very common problem in both non pregnant and pregnant women and its association with adverse pregnancy outcomes is an important issue. Adverse perinatal outcomes include intrauterine growth  retardation, prematurity, birth weight and significant mortality risks associated with anemia particularly in the developing countries. 

Aim: To know the effect of anemia in pregnancy on neonatal outcome.

Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective study conducted at Jhalawar medical college,  Jhalawar, for a period of one year. A total of 9430 pregnant women were delivered during study period. Out of those 336 were excluded (pregnancy induced hypertension, medical disease etc) and 9004 patient’s (5404 were anemic and 3600 were non anemic) data were recorded and perinatal outcome (live birth, still birth, intrauterine death (IUD), low birth weight and preterm delivery) were analyzed.

Results: Most common age group of pregnant patient was 20-25 year in both anemic and non anemic patients. Number of cesarean section were higher in anemic group (27.9% v/s 27%) Out of 3600 patients in non anemic group 972 (27%) but this difference was statistically not significant (p >0.05). There was significant high chances of preterm delivery, low birth weight and Perinatal death in anemic  mother as compare to non anemic mother (14.2 %v/s 11.4%, 23.7% v/s 16.3% and 4.4% v/s 2.3% respectively) (P<0.05).

Conclusion: Anemia during pregnancy significantly associated with adverse perinatal outcome. Efforts must be made through strategies such as fortification and periodic supplementation and counseling of women of the risks of anemia during pregnancy.

Keywords: Maternal Anemia; Perinatal; Fetal; Low Birth Weight; Preterm.