Iron supplementation in pregnancy
-
E. Müngen
Abstract
Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional disorder in the world. Pregnant women are at especially high risk for iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia. A considerable proportion of pregnant women in both developing and industrialized countries become anemic during pregnancy. The prevalence of anemia in pregnant women has remained unacceptably high worldwide despite the fact that routine iron supplementation during pregnancy has been almost universally recommended to prevent maternal anemia, especially in developing countries over the past 30 years. The major problem with iron supplementation during pregnancy is compliance. Despite many studies, the relationship between maternal anemia and adverse pregnancy outcome is unclear. However, there is now sufficient evidence that iron supplements increase hemoglobin and serum ferritin levels during pregnancy and also improve the maternal iron status in the puerperium, even in women who enter pregnancy with adequate iron stores. Recent information also suggests an association between maternal iron status in pregnancy and the iron status of infants postpartum. The necessity of routine iron supplementation during pregnancy has been debated in industrialized countries and routine supplementation is not universally practiced in all these countries. In view of existing data, however, routine iron supplementation during pregnancy seems to be a safe strategy to prevent maternal anemia in developing countries, where traditional diets provide inadequate iron and where malaria and other infections causing increased losses are endemic.
Copyright © 2003 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG
Articles in the same Issue
- Message from the President of the WCPM
- Message from the President of the WAPM
- Antalya Consensus on Perinatal Care:The Report of the 2nd World Congress of Perinatal Medicine for Developing Countries, 1–5 October 2002, Antalya, Turkey
- Reduction in mortality needs a bit more than the science of perinatology
- Global, regional and national perinatal and neonatal mortality
- Maternal mortality in Turkey
- Maternal mortality in developing countries
- Organization of neonatal care services and its importance
- The Misgav Ladach method – a step forward in operative technique in obstetrics
- Monitoring the IUGR fetus
- Massive obstetric hemorrhage
- Breech deliveries and cesarean section
- Iron supplementation in pregnancy
- Antenatal diagnosis and prognosis of conjoined twins – a case report
- Preliminary report on a new and noninvasive method for the assessment of fetal lung maturity
- Perinatal mortality rate – hospital based study during 1998–2001 at Hacettepe University
- The effect of glucocorticoid therapy on prevention of early neonatal complications in preterm delivery
- Congress Calendar
Articles in the same Issue
- Message from the President of the WCPM
- Message from the President of the WAPM
- Antalya Consensus on Perinatal Care:The Report of the 2nd World Congress of Perinatal Medicine for Developing Countries, 1–5 October 2002, Antalya, Turkey
- Reduction in mortality needs a bit more than the science of perinatology
- Global, regional and national perinatal and neonatal mortality
- Maternal mortality in Turkey
- Maternal mortality in developing countries
- Organization of neonatal care services and its importance
- The Misgav Ladach method – a step forward in operative technique in obstetrics
- Monitoring the IUGR fetus
- Massive obstetric hemorrhage
- Breech deliveries and cesarean section
- Iron supplementation in pregnancy
- Antenatal diagnosis and prognosis of conjoined twins – a case report
- Preliminary report on a new and noninvasive method for the assessment of fetal lung maturity
- Perinatal mortality rate – hospital based study during 1998–2001 at Hacettepe University
- The effect of glucocorticoid therapy on prevention of early neonatal complications in preterm delivery
- Congress Calendar
