[Iron nutritional status in pregnant adolescents, São Paulo, Brazil]

The frequency of anemia, iron deficiency and iron body stores was assessed in 155 pregnant teenagers of low socioeconomic status in a prenatal care unit of a beneficent hospital in São Paulo, Brazil. By the criterion of the World Health Organization (Hb < 12 g/dL) 14.2% of the pregnant adolescents had anemia. The iron deficiency diagnostic by saturation of transferrin < 16% and zinc protoporphyrin concentration > 60 (mol/mol heme were 45.8 and 42.6%, respectively. The iron body store (serum ferritin < 12 micrograms/L) was depleted for 48.4% of adolescents. It is concluded that the iron nutritional status of these adolescents were characteristics of the pregravidic inadequate iron store. Despite low percentage of the anemia, the high frequency of iron deficiency and depleted iron stores suggest a practical procedure to detect iron deficiency and the use of iron supplementation in teenagers.