Lack of association between iron status at birth and growth of preterm infants.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the association between iron status at birth and growth of preterm infants.


METHODS
Ninety-five premature babies (26 to 36 weeks of gestational age) born from July 2000 to May 2001 in a public hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Southeastern Brazil, were followed up for six months, corrected by gestational age. Iron measurements at birth were available for 82 mothers and 78 children: hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume and plasma iron. All children received free doses of iron supplement (2 mg/kg/day) during the follow-up period and up to two years of age. Multivariate linear regression analyses with repeated measurements were performed to assess factors associated to linear growth.


RESULTS
Growth was more pronounced up to 40 weeks of gestational age, increasing about 1.0 cm/week and then slowing down to 0.75 cm/week. The multivariate analysis showed growth was positively associated with birth weight (0.4 cm/100 g; p<0.001) and negatively associated with gestational age at birth (-0.5 cm/week; p<0.001). There was no association between cord iron and mother iron measurements and growth (p>0.60 for all measures). Only two children had anemia at birth, whereas 43.9% of mothers were anemic (hemoglobin <11 g/dl). Also, there was no correlation between anemia indicators of mothers and children at birth (r<0.15; p>0.20).


CONCLUSIONS
Maternal anemia was not associated with anemia in preterm infants and iron status of mothers and children at birth was not associated with short-term growth of preterm infants.
Sichieri
Rosely
R
Instituto de Medicina Social, Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. sichieri@ims.uerj.br
Fonseca
Vania Matos
VM
Hoffman
Daniel
D
Trugo
Nadia Maria F
NM
Moura
Aníbal Sanchez
AS
D018798:Anemia, Iron-Deficiency / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D000886:Anthropometry; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000254:growth & development*; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; D007501:Iron / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
D015415:Biomarkers; D007501:Iron