Current Medicine Research and Practice (Jan 2012)
Latent iron deficiency in neonates above 34 weeks of gestation
Abstract
Background: Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency. A high prevalence of iron deficiency is also seen at birth, indicating in utero iron deficiency. This deficiency during this critical period of brain development can affect multiple developmental processes. Objective: To determine the incidence of in utero iron deficiency as evaluated by cord ferritin levels. Methods: Maternal and cord blood of eligible neonates born between 34 and 42 weeks of gestation were estimated for ferritin concentration. Thirty neonates who fulfilled the enrolment criteria were enrolled in each of three groups: appropiate for gestational age (AGA), small for gestational age (SGA) and infants of diabetic mother (IDM), making a total of 90 study subjects in all. A cut-off value of <75 ng/mL was used to define latent iron deficiency. Results: The mean (SD) gestational age and birth weight were 37.02 (1.91) weeks and 2498 (609.74) g, respectively. The overall incidence of iron deficiency state in our study population was 25.5%; among AGA, SGA and IDM groups it was 13.3%, 26.7% and 36.7%, respectively. The mean (SD) maternal ferritin and cord ferritin concentrations of the study population were 37.75 (21.04) μg/L and 134.03 (83.32) μg/L, respectively. The IDMs had significantly lower cord ferritin levels as compared to AGA infants (p=0.036). The correlation coefficient for maternal and cord ferritin among all subjects was 0.351. The correlation coefficients were also poor among all of the AGA, SGA and IDM groups. Conclusion: Our study suggests that the incidence of latent iron deficiency is significant in neonates, especially in SGA and IDM infants. Future studies can be designed to look at long-term neurodevelopmental outcome of neonates with iron deficiency.
