Abstract: Objective：To study the correlation between anemia in late pregnancy and vitamin A deficiency, and the effects of vitamin A deficiency on erythrocyte and reticulocyte parameters. Methods: A retrospective analysis of 1 204 pregnant women in late pregnancy who came to Dongguan Guancheng Hospital from March 2017 to March 2018 was carried out. Among them, 299 pregnant women with anemia were in anemia group, 905 pregnant women without anemia and other pregnancy complications were in control group. The differences of vitamin A concentration and reticulocyte parameters between the two groups were compared. In addition, pregnant women were divided into vitamin A deficient group and vitamin A normal group according to vitamin A concentration，which used 0.3 mg/L as the boundary value. The incidence of anemia, erythrocyte parameters and reticulocyte parameters were compared between the two groups. Results: The incidences of anemia and vitamin A deficiency in late pregnancy were 24.83% (299/1 204) and 16.45% (198/1 204), respectively. The incidence of anemia in the vitamin A deficiency group was significantly higher than that in the vitamin A normal group (34.85% vs. 22.86%, χ2=12.732, P=0.000). The area under the ROC curve (AUC) of vitamin A and anemia in late pregnancy was 0.604 (95%CI: 0.568-0.640), and the cut-off value of vitamin A was 0.36 mg/L. Vitamin A deficiency was associated with decreased MCHC [(332.91±14.50)g/L vs. (337.95±14.19)g/L], increased RDW-CV (14.61±2.08 vs. 13.93±1.79), RET% [(1.77±0.76)% vs. (1.60±0.66)%] and IRF [(11.19±6.05)% vs. (9.36±5.82)%] compared with the normal group (P＜0.05). While there was no statistical significance in the changes of MCV, MCH and RET# (P＞0.05). Conclusions: Vitamin A deficiency may be associated with anemia during pregnancy, and the parameters of red blood cells and reticulocytes can be changed accordingly. In order to reduce the incidence of anemia during pregnancy and ensure the health of mother and baby, it is necessary to monitor the plasma vitamin A concentration of pregnant women, and maintain the level higher than the lower limit of normal value through diet or drug supplement.

Key words: Vitamin A；, Anemia；, Pregnant women；, Erythrocyte count；, Reticulocytes