Prevalence and Risk Factors for Iron Deficiency Anemia and Iron Depletion During Pregnancy: A Prospective Study.

Abstract

Anemia and iron deficiency during pregnancy are a worldwide concern and are more frequent among women ofreproductive age, pregnant women, and young children. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of iron deficiency anemiaand the risk factors for iron depletion during the first half of pregnancy, in a Portuguese population. A prospective study was conducted at a tertiary hospital and included pregnant women, until the 20th week ofgestation. Data was collected regarding demographic and pregnancy features and hemoglobin and serum ferritin concentrations weredetermined. A multivariate logistic regression was performed to identify potential risk factors for iron deficiency. Two hundred and one women were included, from which five (2.49%) presented anemia. Additionally, 77 (38.3%) exhibitediron deficiency and 22 (10.9%) revealed severe iron depletion. Maternal age was the only risk factor identified. The odds ratio (OR) wasequal to 12.99 (95% CI 2.41 - 70.0) for women under twenty years of age and 2.09 (95% CI 1.05 - 4.14) for women older than thirtyyears of age. The prevalence of maternal anemia in the first half of pregnancy was lower than in other studies.However, more than one-third of the women exhibited iron deficiency. With the exception of maternal age, no other risk factors wereidentified.