Heme-bound iron in treatment of pregnancy-associated iron deficiency anemia

The iron requirements increase during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. Maternal anemia is a leading cause of adverse perinatal outcome.

This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of the heme-bound iron in treatment of pregnancy-associated iron deficiency anemia (IDA).

In all, 122 women with IDA during pregnancy and hemoglobin ≤10 g/dL were studied. The studied women were treated with heme-bound iron tablets for ≥3 months. Pretreatment hemoglobin, ferritin, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) were compared with the posttreatment values to detect the efficacy of heme-bound iron (Optifer^®) in treatment of IDA during pregnancy.

The mean pretreatment hemoglobin significantly increased from 8.4 ± 2.7 to 11.2 ± 2.1 g/dL and the mean pretreatment ferritin level significantly increased from 22.6 ± 5.6 to 112.8 ± 4.8 μg/L (P < 0.003 and 0.04; respectively) 3 months after heme-bound iron treatment. In addition, the mean pretreatment red blood cells' MCV and MCH significantly increased from 74.2 ± 4.8 fL and 24.2 ± 7.8 pg, respectively, to 92.0 ± 4.1 fL and 32.6 ± 6.2 pg) (P = 0.04 and 0.007, respectively) 3 months after heme-bound iron treatment.

Heme-bound iron (Optifer^®) is an effective oral iron preparation to treat IDA during pregnancy and to replace the depleted iron store.