Comparison of Iron Status between Fullterm and Preterm Infants : An Experience in a Single Hospital for 2 Years

Sang In Lee; Haeng Mi Kim; Wook Hyun Kim

doi:10.14734/kjp.2013.24.4.275

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Lee, Kim, and Kim: Comparison of Iron Status between Fullterm and Preterm Infants : An Experience in a Single Hospital for 2 Years

Original Article

Korean J Perinatol 2013;24(4):275-280.

Published online: 19 January 2013

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14734/kjp.2013.24.4.275

Comparison of Iron Status between Fullterm and Preterm Infants : An Experience in a Single Hospital for 2 Years

Sang In Lee, M.D., Haeng Mi Kim, M.D., Wook Hyun Kim, M.D.

Department of Medicine, Graduate school, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea

주관책임자 : 김행미, 700-721, 대구광역시 중구 동덕로 130 경북대학병원 소아청소년과 전화 : 053)420-504, 전송 : 053)425-6683 E-mail : hmkim@knu.ac.kr

Received 4 September 2013 Revised 23 October 2013 Accepted 24 October 2013

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose :

The aim of this study is to compare the iron status of fullterm and preterm infants and to investigate effects of gender, IUGR, and maternal diabetes mellitus (DM) on iron status of infants.

Methods :

We evaluated newborn infants admitted at neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of Kyungpook National University Hospital from July 2011 to April 2013. The five parameters were measured: hemoglobin, hematocrit, ferritin, total iron binding capacity, and transferrin saturation.

Results :

Serum ferritin was lower in preterm infants than in fullterm infants (209.5 vs 323.5 ng/mL,P=0.003). Hemoglobin, hematocrit, total iron binding capacity, and transferrin saturation levels were not influenced by gestational age. Maternal DM was associated with decreased serum ferritin (204.3 vs 347.8 μg/L, P=0.008). There was no difference of ferritin levels between male and female as well as between IUGR infants and non-IUGR infants.

Conclusion :

In this study, low gestational ages and maternal DM are associated with low ferritin level. Careful monitoring of iron status is required for preterm infants and infants of DM mother.

Keywords: Ferritin, Fullterm, Preterm infants

REFERENCES

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Table 1.

Comparison of Blood Iron Status between Preterm and Fullterm Infants

Variables	Preterm (n=83)	Fullterm (n=133)	P-value
Gestational age (wks)	34.3±2.2	38.8±1.1	<0.001
Birth weight (g)	2,192.4±494.4	3,232.0±511.7	<0.001
Hemoglobin (g/L)	16.6±4.6	16.2±1.8	0.115
Hematocrit (%)	49.7±7.2	49.1±6.0	0.272
Iron (μmol/L)	106.3±60.2	100.6±57.1	0.872
TIBC (μmol/L)	188.5±45.9	211.5±37.5	0.059
Ferritin (μg/L)	209.5±152.3	323.0±239.1	0.003
T-sat (%)	56.4±28.0	48.2±27.4	0.697

Abbreviations: TIBC, total iron binding capacity; T-sat, Transferrin-saturation. Values are presented as mean±standard deviation

Table 2.

Comparison of Blood Iron Status at Various Gestational Ages

Variables	Preterm (GA <34 wks) (n=22)	Late preterm (GA 34 ≤37wks) (n=61)	Term (n=133)
Gestational age (	wks) 31.4±2.1∗ ^†	35.4±0.9∗	38.8±1.1
Birth weight (g)	1,794.5±493.6∗ ^†	2,335.9±412.0∗	3,232.0±511.7
Hemoglobin (g/L)	15.5±1.8	16.4±2.0	16.2±1.8
Hematocrit (%)	48.1±6.0	50.9±6.3	49.1±6.0
Iron (μmol/L)	98.6±60.1	109.1±60.5	100.6±57.1
TIBC (μmol/L)	162.9±44.3∗ ^†	197.8±43.2∗	211.5±37.5
Ferritin (μg/L)	157.9±73.8∗	228.1±168.7∗	323.0±239.1
T-sat (%)	59.7±30.1	55.2±27.3	48.2±27.4

Abbreviations: TIBC, total iron binding capacity; T-sat, Transferrin-saturation; GA, gestational age ∗P-value<0.05 (preterm vs term, late preterm vs term)

^† P-value<0.05 (preterm vs late preterm) Values are presented as mean±standard deviation

Table 3.

Comparison of Blood Iron Status between Male and Female Infants

Variables	Male (n=125)	Female (n=91)	P-value
Gestational age (wks)	36.8±2.3	37.5±2.5	0.130
Birth weight (g)	2,830.8±741.9	2,834.9±679.8	0.292
Hemoglobin (g/L)	16.1±1.7	16.2±2.0	0.822
Hematocrit (%)	49.3±5.9	49.7±6.4	0.283
Iron (μmol/L)	100.0±58.9	106.5±57.5	0.822
TIBC (μmol/L)	201.5±43.9	204.3±40.3	0.479
Ferritin (μg/L)	271.4±232.7	290.3±193.7	0.926
T-sat (%)	50.4±28.1	52.6±27.7	0.860

Abbreviations: TIBC, total iron binding capacity; T-sat, Transferrin-saturation Values are presented as mean±standard deviation

Table 4.

Comparison of Blood Iron Status between infants of DM and non-DM

Variables	DM (n=23)	non-DM (n=111)	P-value
Gestational age (wks)	38.3±0.9	38.8±1.1	0.125
Birth weight (g)	3,408.3±446.5	3,195.1±518.5	0.069
Hemoglobin (g/L)	16.5±1.2	16.1±1.8	0.340
Hematocrit (%)	51.4±4.4	48.6±6.2	0.038
Iron (μmol/)	128.6±61.5	94.7±54.6	0.009
TIBC (μmol/L)	222.7±50.3	209.2±34.1	0.118
Ferritin (μg/L)	204.3±173.0	347.8±244.2	0.008
T-sat (%)	60.6±29.4	45.6±26.4	0.017

Abbreviations: TIBC, total iron binding capacity; T-sat, Transferrin-saturation; DM, diabetes mellitus Values are presented as mean±standard deviation

Table 5.

Comparison of Blood Iron Status between infants of IUGR and non-IUGR

Variables	IUGR (n=10)	non-IUGR (n=206)	P-value
Gestational age (wks)	37.0±1.6	37.1±2.7	0.956
Birth weight (g)	1,998.0±249.3	2,873.0±705.3	<0.001
Hemoglobin (g/L)	16.9±1.5	16.1±1.8	0.183
Hematocrit (%)	52.2±5.1	49.4±6.2	0.152
Iron (μ/L)	145.7±83.0	100.7±56.2	0.017
TIBC (μmol/L)	245.8±59.2	200.6±40.4	<0.001
Ferritin (μg/L)	260.8±156.8	280.3±219.6	0.782
T-sat (%)	59.3±30.0	51.0±27.8	0.356

Abbreviations: TIBC, total iron binding capacity; T-sat, Transferrin-saturation; DM, diabetes mellitus Values are presented as mean±standard deviation

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