Evaluation of the martial status of the mother-child pairs in the delivery room at the Libreville mother-child university hospital in 2023

Abstract

Introduction: iron deficiency is responsible for serious neurodevelopmental disorders in newborns. Our objective was to study the martial status of the mother-child couple in the birth room of the CHUME-FJE. Patients and methods: prospective cross-sectional and analytical study, carried out from November 2022 to January 2023 at the CHUME-FJE including 150 pregnant women carrying a full-term, single pregnancy, without any sign of infection and their newborns who were to be born by vaginal route with good adaptation to extrauterine life. The iron metabolism was assessed by measuring serum iron, ferritin, transferrin and his biological consequence was appreciated by haemoglobin level. Results: 14.6% (n=22) of parturients had an insufficient iron reserve and 36.0% (n=54) had anemia, the mild stage of which represented 63.0% of cases. Among these anemic parturients, 18.5% had an insufficient iron reserve. In newborns, an iron reserve was insufficient in 8.0% (n=12) of cases and 30.7% (n=46) had anemia. Regular iron intake significantly improved maternal reserve (p=0.03). This positive influence of iron on the maternal martial reserve had not been observed on the martial reserve of their newborns (p=0.56). The increase in hemoglobin and serum iron levels of newborns were associated with the increase in hemoglobin (r= 0.05, p=0.0001) and serum iron levels of their mothers (r= 0.452, p=0.0001). Conclusion: the rate of iron deficiency in the mother-child couple is considerable and challenges. This suggests a real intervention in the population of pregnant women.