Haematological effect of iron supplementation in breast fed term low birth weight infants

Abstract

Aims: To determine the haematological effects of iron supplementation in predominantly breast fed term low birth weight (LBW) infants. Methods: Seventy three healthy term LBW (,2500 g), predominantly breast fed infants aged 50-80 days were randomised into two groups to receive either iron (3 mg/kg/day) (iron supplemented (IS) group; n = 37) or placebo drops (placebo (P) group; n = 36). Haematological parameters and anthropometry were measured at baseline and repeated after four and eight weeks. Results: A total of 62 subjects (32 in the IS group and 30 in the P group) came for the first follow up and 26 (13 in the IS group and 13 in the P group) reported for the second visit. There were no significant differences in serum ferritin and anthropometry. However, covariates (infant age, haemoglobin, and ferritin, and maternal haemoglobin) adjusted haemoglobin change was significantly higher in the IS group after four weeks (4.6 g/l; 95% CI 0.5 to 8.8) and eight weeks (8.6 g/l; 95% CI 1.8 to 15.4). Conclusions: Iron supplementation in a therapeutic dose in term breast fed LBW infants results in a marginal increase in haemoglobin. The functional benefit of this haemoglobin rise requires further evaluation.

Early versus late enteral prophylactic iron supplementation in preterm very low birth weight infants: a randomised controlled trial

“…This was in concordance with the findings of some earlier studies 8 25 26. Similar to other studies, we also did not document any significant increase in immediate neonatal morbidities, such as ROP, PVL and NEC, due to EI supplementation 10 27.…”

A Management Guideline to Reduce the Frequency of Blood Transfusion in Very-Low-Birth-Weight Infants

“…6 Early protein and iron supplementation have been shown to provide substrate for erythropoiesis in preterm and term infants. 11,12,14,16,29 In the majority of the phase II group of infants, it was possible to introduce oral iron once, and 60 mL/kg/d of milk feeds were established. There were three infants who had treatment for necrotizing enterocolitis in whom this part of the management plan could not be introduced as early as in the other infants.…”

“…After obtaining the data, a structured literature search was performed. This included delayed cord clamping in premature infants, 8,10 oral iron, [11][12][13][14][15] early introduction of protein, 12,16,17 and new threshold guidelines for red cell transfusions 18 . The information from these high-quality publications was used to develop a new management guideline, which is outlined in Table 1 for period II.…”

Effect of Iron Prophylaxis in Preventing Iron Deficiency Anaemia in Term Infants

“…This result was comparable with study done by Agarwal et al, which shows that the change in haemoglobin status in iron supplemented group is better compared to placebo. 1 The mean of weight difference between supplemented group and control group was 3.1209 and 2.4159. The independent sample test value was 3.066 and p value was less than 0.05, found to be statistically significant.…”