Relationship between Maternal and Cord Blood Iron Status in Women and their New Born Pairs
Grisilda Vidya Bernhardt1, Malay Jhancy2, Pooja Shivappa3, Kavitha Bernhardt4 and Janita R. T. Pinto5*1Department of Biochemistry, RAK College of Medical Sciences, RAK, UAE.
2Department of Pediatrics, RAK College of Medical Sciences, RAK, UAE
3Department of Basic Sciences, RAK University, RAK, UAE.
4Department of Physiology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka, India.
5Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Gulf Medical University, Ajman, UAE.
Corresponding Author E-mail: janitap2010@gmail.com
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.
Keywords: Anemic Pregnant Women; Cord Blood Iron; Cord Blood Ferritin; Cord Blood Hemoglobin; Ferritin; Hemoglobin; Iron Back to TOC