What is it about?

We found that iron deficiency was associated with substantially reduced odds of LBW predominantly through malaria-independent protective mechanisms, which has substantial implications for understanding risks for poor pregnancy outcomes and evaluating the benefit of iron supplementation in pregnancy. This study is the first longitudinal study to demonstrate a temporal relationship between antenatal iron deficiency and improved birth outcomes. These findings suggest that iron supplementation needs to be integrated with other strategies to prevent or treat infections and undernutrition in pregnancy to achieve substantial improvements in birth outcomes.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

Low birth weight (LBW) and preterm birth (PTB) are major contributors to infant mortality and chronic childhood morbidity. Understanding factors that contribute to or protect against these adverse birth outcomes is an important global health priority. Anaemia and iron deficiency are common in malaria-endemic regions, but there are concerns regarding the value of iron supplementation among pregnant women in malaria-endemic areas due to reports that iron supplementation may increase the risk of malaria. There is a lack of evidence on the impact of iron deficiency on pregnancy outcomes in malaria-endemic regions.

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Iron deficiency during pregnancy is associated with a reduced risk of adverse birth outcomes in a malaria-endemic area in a longitudinal cohort study, BMC Medicine, September 2018, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1186/s12916-018-1146-z.
You can read the full text:

Read

Contributors

The following have contributed to this page