Hepcidin and iron status in pregnant women and full-term newborns in first days of life

Abstract

It may be assumed that a relatively low concentration of hepcidin in women in late pregnancy facilitates their iron accumulation. Higher levels of hepcidin in full-term newborns than in their mothers may be the result of a relatively high level of iron from the stored supplies. Neonatal iron status was independently associated with either maternal or cord blood hepcidin.

Is cord blood hepcidin influenced by the low-grade acute-phase response occurring during delivery? A small-scale longitudinal study

“…The high concentrations of hepcidin and ferritin measured here in cord blood are in accordance with previous observations [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. Nevertheless, there are a handful of previous studies [21,24,31,32] involving measurements of S-hepcidin, sTfR, and S-ferritin sampled in late pregnancy as well as in cord blood.…”

Predictors of anemia and iron status at birth in neonates born to women carrying multiple fetuses

“…To date, data on associations between cord and maternal hepcidin have been mixed. [36][37][38] In our study, cord hepcidin was significantly associated with maternal hepcidin at delivery, but only cord hepcidin was correlated with cord Fe status, and this hormone alone captured nearly 37% of the total variance in cord Hb. These data suggest that the fetus independently regulates its Fe status, a finding consistent with other data from full-term singleton neonates.…”

Serum hepcidin and iron status parameters in pregnant women and the association with adverse maternal and fetal outcomes: a study protocol for a prospective cohort study

“…Low iron stores are reported to be more common in obese pregnant women 10. The correlation between serum ferritin and hepcidin has been shown in previous studies 3 5 8 11 12. Although in other studies, no correlation between serum hepcidin and iron status has been found 4 6 13.…”

“…Pregnant women have an increased requirement of iron to support fetoplacental development, expansion of maternal red blood cell (RBC) mass, and to compensate for intrapartum blood loss; to meet this need, absorption of dietary iron is enhanced concomitantly with increased utilisation of existing iron stores. During a healthy pregnancy, hepcidin is reduced, enabling iron transfer to the fetus 3–6. Obesity in pregnancy may lead to hepcidin excess and decreased iron transfer to the fetus 7–9.…”