Low income postpartum women are at risk of iron deficiency

We estimated the prevalence of postpartum iron deficiency, anemia and iron deficiency anemia in the United States and compared risk of iron deficiency between women 0-24 mo postpartum (n = 680) and never-pregnant women, 20-40 y old (n = 587). We used data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988-1994. Iron deficiency was defined as abnormal values for > or = 2 of 3 iron status measures (serum ferritin, free erythrocyte protoporphyrin, transferrin saturation). Iron deficiency prevalences for women 0-6, 7-12 and 13-24 mo postpartum were 12.7, 12.4 and 7.8%, respectively, and 6.5% among never-pregnant women. After adjustment for confounding, the risk of iron deficiency among women with a poverty index ratio < or = 130% who were 0-6, 7-12 and 13-24 mo postpartum was 4.1 (95% confidence interval 2.0, 7.2), 3.1 (1.3, 6.5) and 2.0 (0.8, 4.1) times as great, respectively, as never-pregnant women with a poverty index ratio > 130%, but risk was not elevated for never-pregnant women with a poverty index ratio < or = 130%. Compared with the same referent, the risk of iron deficiency was not meaningfully different for women with a poverty index ratio > 130% who were 0-6, 7-12 or 13-24 mo postpartum. Given that low income postpartum women bear a substantially greater iron deficiency risk than never-pregnant women, more attention should be given to preventing iron deficiency among low income women during and after pregnancy.