title: Iron status at birth and at 4 weeks in preterm-SGA infants in comparison with preterm and term-AGA infants.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the iron status at birth in preterm small for gestational age (SGA) in comparison with preterm appropriate for gestation (AGA) and term-AGA infants.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mother-infant pairs with gestation of < 37 weeks, both SGA, and preterm-AGA and term-AGA as control were enrolled. Maternal, cord blood and infant blood samples at 4 weeks were obtained for various iron indices - cord serum ferritin, proportion of infants with "low" serum ferritin, serum ferritin at 4 weeks and correlation among maternal and neonatal iron indices - hemoglobin,serum ferritin and total iron-binding capacity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 50 mother-infant pairs in each group. Cord serum ferritin levels were less in preterm-SGA group as compared to preterm-AGA group (median [interquartile range]: 68 [30 113] vs. 120 [73 127], p = 0.002) and preterm-AGA had less cord ferritin than term-AGA (141 [63 259], p = 0.006). The proportion of the infants with "low" serum ferritin was more in preterm-SGA than in preterm-AGA (16 [32%] vs. 5 [10%], p = 0.01). The serum ferritin levels at follow-up were also less in preterm-SGA as compared to preterm-AGA (143.5 ± 101 vs. 235.1 ± 160, p = 0.004). Other cord blood iron indices and follow-up serum ferritin levels were similar. There was no correlation among various maternal and neonatal cord iron parameters.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Preterm-SGA infants have lesser total iron stores as compared to gestation-matched AGA infants, which is again lesser than term infants. Future studies can be planned to look at iron status at 12 months as well as their neurodevelopmental outcome.
authors: Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India. kanyapupul@yahoo.com
authors: Kanya
authors: K
authors: Mukhopadhyay
authors: Ramesh Kumar
authors: RK
authors: Yadav
authors: Sai Sunil
authors: SS
authors: Kishore
authors: Gurjeevan
authors: G
authors: Garewal
authors: Vanita
authors: V
authors: Jain
authors: Anil
authors: A
authors: Narang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001724:Birth Weight / Q000502:physiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005293:Ferritins / Q000097:blood; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D005865:Gestational Age; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000097:blood*; D007236:Infant, Small for Gestational Age / Q000097:blood*; D007501:Iron / Q000097:blood* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D036801:Parturition / Q000097:blood*; D047929:Term Birth / Q000097:blood*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D005293:Ferritins; D007501:Iron