Iron nutritional status in adolescent pregnancy at the beginning of gestation

The frequency of anemia and iron nutrition deficiency was assessed in 342 low socioeconomic level pregnant teenagers upon entry to prenatal care in 5 outpatient clinics for a southeast area of Santiago Chile. According to the Center for Disease Control criteria 1.2% of women had iron deficiency anemia. Iron stores were insufficient (defined as a serum ferritin lower than 20 g/L) in 55% of women and depleted (serum ferritin lower than 10 g/L) in 21% of women. Women at more than 14 weeks gestation had lower packed red cell volumes hemoglobin mean corpuscular volumes and ferritin levels than women at less than 14 weeks of gestation. It is concluded that the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia is lower than that predicted for a highly vulnerable group but the high frequency of low iron stores should encourage the use of iron supplementation in these teenagers. (authors) (summaries in ENG SPA)