Effect of Maternal Iron Deficiency Anemia on the Iron Store of Newborns in Ethiopia

Iron deficiency anemia among pregnant women is a widespread problem in developing countries including Ethiopia, though its influence on neonatal iron status was inconsistently reported in literature. This cross-sectional study was conducted to compare hematologic profiles and iron status of newborns from mothers with different anemia status and determine correlation between maternal and neonatal hematologic profiles and iron status in Ethiopian context. We included 89 mothers and their respective newborns and performed complete blood count and assessed serum ferritin and C-reactive protein levels from blood samples collected from study participants. Maternal median hemoglobin and serum ferritin levels were 12.2 g/dL and 47.0 ng/mL, respectively. The median hemoglobin and serum ferritin levels for the newborns were 16.2 g/dL and 187.6 ng/mL, respectively. The mothers were classified into two groups based on hemoglobin and serum ferritin levels as iron deficient anemic (IDA) and nonanemic (NA) and newborns of IDA mothers had significantly lower levels of serum ferritin (P = 0.017) and hemoglobin concentration (P = 0.024). Besides, newborns' ferritin and hemoglobin levels showed significant correlation with maternal hemoglobin (P = 0.018; P = 0.039) and ferritin (P = 0.000; P = 0.008) levels. We concluded that maternal IDA may have an effect on the iron stores of newborns.