Relationship between Maternal and Cord Blood Iron Status in Women and their New Born Pairs

Abstract

Maintaining iron homeostasis is of great importance to the growing fetus and neonates. There is no consensus as to whether the neonates iron status is determined by fetal demands or by maternal iron status. There is no conclusive data confirming the likelihood of neonates born to anemic mothers suffering from compromised iron status. Therefore the aim of our study was to evaluate the relationship of iron indices between maternal and cord blood collected from mother and infant pairs and explore the association of maternal anemia on the iron status indicators of the cord blood. This prospective study included 60 mother and newborn pairs. The study population was subdivided as anemic and non-anemic groups based on hemoglobin (Hb) levels. The maternal venous blood samples were collected 1.5 h ± 20 min before the delivery. 5 ml of cord blood was collected soon after child birth. Samples were analyzed for hemoglobin (Hb), serum ferritin and iron. Significantly lower values of Hb, Ferritin, iron (p < 0.05) was observed in neonates born to anemic mothers when compared to the indices of neonates born to non-anemic mothers. On multivariate linear regression analysis , maternal Hb showed positive linear correlation with cord Hb and ferritin (r =0.87, p<0.05). However, correlation between maternal Hb and cord iron was not significant. Maternal anemia can effect neonatal iron stores. Lowered concentration of iron status indicators in cord blood of neonates born to anemic mothers indicates that fetal iron transfer may be dependent on that of the iron stores of the mothers. However, this process may involve complex factors.

“Evaluation of Cord Blood to Screen for Neonatal Anemia and Its Correlation With Maternal Anemia in a Tertiary Medical College in Eastern India”

“…[16] The values of cord serum iron had a signicant positive correlation with mother's Hb (r=0.46, p< 0.00001), in contrast to other studies which have found no association between the two. [13,14] This could be due to a smaller sample size compared to the other studies.…”

“…Other studies have also had similar results thus indicating that maternal iron status is a crucial factor in identifying neonates with low iron reserves. [13,14,15] A strong linear positive correlation was found between maternal Hb and cord Hb (r=0.65, p<0.00001). Hb decit is a late sign of iron deciency, indicating that neonatal iron stores must have been adversely affected at birth.…”

Markers of inflammation in obese pregnant women: Adenosine deaminase and high sensitive C – reactive protein

“…Increased maternal BMI is an independent risk factor for preeclampsia, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease (CVD), preterm delivery, cesarean delivery, delivery of a macrosomic infant, and metabolic disorders in children later in life [1] , [2] , [3] , [4] . There exists a link between maternal and neonatal health [4] , [5] , [6] , therefore children born to obese mothers are at risk of future obesity, heart disease, and diabetes, the cause of which is described as “fetal programming” or “developmental origin of adult disease”, that is associated with the abnormal intrauterine fetal development. The risk of intrauterine fetal complications is increased in obese women compared to normal-weight women [5] .…”