Abstract

Background: iron is essential element involved in a broad range of biologically important reactions critical for cellular function and also plays a role in oxygen transferring and despite its low daily requirements iron deficiency is the most common nutritional disorder in the world. Increased serum concentration of TfR is a sensitive and quick response to the development of iron deficiency. Conversely, the serum TfR concentration decreases in response to treatment with iron before a change in hemoglobin occurs, so the response to iron can be monitored by changes in serum TfR. TfR-F index is proposed to be a more accurate reflection of tissue iron status than ferritin. Many factors can influence the iron status of the fetus at birth, Maternal diabetes mellitus was thought to be associated with depletion of fetal iron stores in proportion to the degree of maternal control and presence or absence of complications of diabetes, but not maternal iron status. Aim of the work: in this study we aimed to assess the effect of maternal diabetes on neonatal cord blood iron stores. Patient and Method: this case-control study was conducted on 100 maternal/cord blood pairs who were randomly included in the study from Obstetrics and Gynecology Department at El- Nile Insurance Hospital, Shubra El Khema, during the period from November 2015 to July 2016. Results: this study was done on the fetal iron status in the diabetic mothers and the control group using the transferrin receptos-ferritin index(TfR-F index) as a measure of cellular iron status and results showed that infants of the diabetic mothers(IDM) had significantly lower iron stores represented as lower s.ferritin (P=0.000) and significantly higher serum transferring receptors(STfR)levels than infants born to the control mothers (P=0.038) and also higher sTfR level in insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) mothers ; this was suggesting a state of increased erythropoiesis. Conclusion: this study confirmed that iron stores are lower at birth in infants of women with diabetes mellitus. This appeared to be due to the effects of increased erythropoiesis secondary to chronic intrauterine hypoxia. Fetal iron stores were affected by maternal glycemic control and not related to maternal iron supplement.

Authors and Affiliations