Effect of maternal iron deficiency anemia on the iron store of newborns in ethiopia.

Betelihem Terefe,Aster Tsegaye,Paulos Nigussie,Asaye Birhanu

doi:10.1155/2015/808204

Betelihem Terefe, Aster Tsegaye + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/808204

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Abstract

Iron deficiency anemia among pregnant women is a widespread problem in developing countries including Ethiopia, though its influence on neonatal iron status was inconsistently reported in literature. This cross-sectional study was conducted to compare hematologic profiles and iron status of newborns from mothers with different anemia status and determine correlation between maternal and neonatal hematologic profiles and iron status in Ethiopian context. We included 89 mothers and their respective newborns and performed complete blood count and assessed serum ferritin and C-reactive protein levels from blood samples collected from study participants. Maternal median hemoglobin and serum ferritin levels were 12.2 g/dL and 47.0 ng/mL, respectively. The median hemoglobin and serum ferritin levels for the newborns were 16.2 g/dL and 187.6 ng/mL, respectively. The mothers were classified into two groups based on hemoglobin and serum ferritin levels as iron deficient anemic (IDA) and nonanemic (NA) and newborns of IDA mothers had significantly lower levels of serum ferritin (P = 0.017) and hemoglobin concentration (P = 0.024). Besides, newborns' ferritin and hemoglobin levels showed significant correlation with maternal hemoglobin (P = 0.018; P = 0.039) and ferritin (P = 0.000; P = 0.008) levels. We concluded that maternal IDA may have an effect on the iron stores of newborns.

Highlights

Iron deficiency (ID) is the most important cause of nutritional anemia and is the most common micronutrient deficiency worldwide, especially in developing countries [1]
We determined that maternal iron deficiency anemia (IDA) may have an effect on the iron stores of newborns as hemoglobin (P = 0.025) and ferritin concentrations (P = 0.027) were significantly lower in newborns delivered from IDA mothers than newborns delivered from NA mothers (Table 3 and Figure 1)
The significantly lower level of ferritin in newborns delivered from IDA mothers compared to NA mothers suggests reduced iron stores in these newborns

Summary

Background

Iron deficiency (ID) is the most important cause of nutritional anemia and is the most common micronutrient deficiency worldwide, especially in developing countries [1]. In developing countries including Ethiopia, pregnant women commonly begin gestation with depleted or low body iron stores which might make them prone to developing iron deficiency anemia (IDA) [3]. The anemia is severe in degree and it coexists with maternal malnutrition [3] Under these situations, the competing demands of mother and fetus may disturb the normal maternal-fetal iron homeostasis [3,4,5]. The competing demands of mother and fetus may disturb the normal maternal-fetal iron homeostasis [3,4,5] This may have a resultant effect both on the mother and on the fetus, such as premature delivery, intrauterine growth retardation, and neonatal and perinatal death [6]. Anemia (CRP) test to minimize the bias that can be caused due to infection and tried to determine the effect of IDA on the iron store of term newborns

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