Anemia in pregnancy: impact on weight and in the development of anemia in newborn

Introduction: nutritional deficiencies are still a common problem during pregnancy causing anemia. Gestational anemia is still considered a public health problem in Brazil, because it is hazardous to both mother and fetus, and is associated with increased risk of maternal-fetal morbidity, as well as the nutritional status of child. Objective: to evaluate the frequency of maternal gestational anemia in newborns and its relation to the nutritional status of the child at birth. Methods: anthropometric data of pregnant women and their newborns were obtained. Blood was collected from pregnant women and the umbilical cord of newborns for analysis of hemoglobin, hematocrit, RDW, iron, ferritin and transferrin saturation index in automatic devices. The results are presented such as the arithmetic mean and the standard deviation. GraphPadinStat (R) Software version 3.0 was used, with a maximum significance level of 5%. Results: the frequency of maternal anemia was 53.7%, and 32.6% in newborns. Half the newborns were anemic children of anemic mothers. 79.3% of the anemic pregnant women had mild anemia and in 20.7% moderate. The average concentration of hemoglobin and hematocrit was lower in anemic pregnant women (9.7 +/- 0.9 g/dL and 29.8 +/- 3.2%) compared with non-anemic (11.9 +/- 0.7 g/dL and 36.5 +/- 2.7%). The maternal iron was positively correlated with ferritin (r = 0.3889, p = 0.01) from umbilical cord blood. The newborns' weight, length and head circumference of anemic mothers were 3 375.9 +/- 506,9 g, 51.2 +/- 1.7 cm and 34.5 +/- 1.5 cm, respectively, while of nonanemic mothers were 3 300.2 +/- 458,4 g, 50.3 +/- 2.0 cm and 34.2 +/- 2.0 cm, respectively. There were no significant correlations between maternal hemoglobin, iron and ferritin with weight, length and head circumference of newborns. Conclusion: the results of this study show that maternal iron deficiency anemia (mild to moderate) can affect the blood profile and iron concentrations in umbilical cord blood of newborns, but without interfering with the child's anthropometric parameters.