Introduction:

Iron is an essential micronutrient in the growing fetus.

Objective:

The purpose of this study is to find the possible correlations that may exist between maternal and fetal iron status and newborn weight.

Material and methods:

The study included 97 mothers scheduled to give birth by elective caesarean section in the central maternity of Tébessa )east of Algeria) between January and August 2014. The blood collection was sampled from the antecubital vein of the mother and the umbilical vein. The mean concentrations of parameters in maternal and fetal sides, respectively, were 10.64 ± 1.37 g/dl and 14.83 ± 1.79 g/dl for hemoglobin, 51.57 ± 20.82 µg/dl and 112.47 ± 32.34 μg/dl for serum iron, and 12.37 ± 9.58 ng/ml and 109.64 ± 58.76 ng/ml for serum ferritin. Except for ferritin, other fetal parameters were correlated with those of mothers. Birth weight was only significantly correlated with maternal hemoglobin (r = 0.22, p = 0.02) and hematocrit (r = 0.2, p = 0.004).

Conclusion:

The fetal-maternal exchanges of iron were highlighted and iron status of the newborn was linked to that of the mother. The low maternal hemoglobin was associated with low newborn weight.

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