title: Low income postpartum women are at risk of iron deficiency.
abstract: We estimated the prevalence of postpartum iron deficiency, anemia and iron deficiency anemia in the United States and compared risk of iron deficiency between women 0-24 mo postpartum (n = 680) and never-pregnant women, 20-40 y old (n = 587). We used data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988-1994. Iron deficiency was defined as abnormal values for > or = 2 of 3 iron status measures (serum ferritin, free erythrocyte protoporphyrin, transferrin saturation). Iron deficiency prevalences for women 0-6, 7-12 and 13-24 mo postpartum were 12.7, 12.4 and 7.8%, respectively, and 6.5% among never-pregnant women. After adjustment for confounding, the risk of iron deficiency among women with a poverty index ratio < or = 130% who were 0-6, 7-12 and 13-24 mo postpartum was 4.1 (95% confidence interval 2.0, 7.2), 3.1 (1.3, 6.5) and 2.0 (0.8, 4.1) times as great, respectively, as never-pregnant women with a poverty index ratio > 130%, but risk was not elevated for never-pregnant women with a poverty index ratio < or = 130%. Compared with the same referent, the risk of iron deficiency was not meaningfully different for women with a poverty index ratio > 130% who were 0-6, 7-12 or 13-24 mo postpartum. Given that low income postpartum women bear a substantially greater iron deficiency risk than never-pregnant women, more attention should be given to preventing iron deficiency among low income women during and after pregnancy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina Schools of Public Health and Medicine, Chapel Hill, USA.
authors.forename: Lisa M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Bodnar
authors.forename: Mary E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Cogswell
authors.forename: Kelley S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Scanlon
mesh_terms: D018798:Anemia, Iron-Deficiency / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002487:Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.; D005260:Female; D005293:Ferritins / Q000097:blood; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D000090463:Iron Deficiencies; D049590:Postpartum Period / Q000502:physiology*; D011203:Poverty; D015995:Prevalence; D011524:Protoporphyrins / Q000097:blood; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D014168:Transferrin / Q000378:metabolism; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D006454:Hemoglobins; D011524:Protoporphyrins; D014168:Transferrin; D005293:Ferritins