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Lack of association between iron status at birth and growth of preterm infants

Rosely Sichieri1, Vania Matos Fonseca, Daniel Hoffman

  • 1Instituto de Medicina Social, Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. sichieri@ims.uerj.br

Revista De Saude Publica
|October 26, 2006
PubMed

Insights

Maternal anemia did not affect preterm infants

Area of Science:

  • Neonatalogy
  • Pediatric Nutrition
  • Hematology

Background:

  • Preterm infants are at risk for growth complications.
  • Iron status at birth is a potential factor influencing infant development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between iron status at birth and the growth of preterm infants.
  • To determine if maternal iron status or anemia at birth impacts infant growth.

Main Methods:

  • Followed 95 preterm infants (26-36 weeks gestational age) for six months.
  • Measured iron status (hemoglobin, hematocrit, plasma iron) in mothers and infants at birth.
  • Utilized multivariate linear regression to analyze factors associated with linear growth.

Main Results:

  • Infant growth rate varied with gestational age, slowing after 40 weeks.
  • Birth weight and gestational age were significant predictors of growth.
  • No association was found between maternal or infant iron status at birth and infant growth.
  • Maternal anemia prevalence was high (43.9%), but not correlated with infant anemia.

Conclusions:

  • Maternal anemia at birth does not appear to increase anemia risk in preterm infants.
  • Infant iron status at birth is not associated with short-term growth in preterm infants.
  • Further research may explore other factors influencing preterm infant growth.
Abstract

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