Iron supplementation during pregnancy and birth weight

In this controlled prospective and longitudinal study, we explored among 92 pregnant women, the probable correlation between the epidemiological and socio-economic factors and the installation of anaemia. We were also interested in the effect of the iron supplementation on the modifications of the hematological parameters among anaemic pregnant women, the gestational age and the weight of the newborn child. However, an iron supplementation (of 30 mg/day) prescribed for all anaemic women (n = 40) throughout 4 months, made it possible to restore certain hematologic parameters. Indeed, at the supplemented group, the rates of hemoglobin and serum iron increased. Thus, a strong positive correlation was found between these two parameters (r = 0.89). The rate of the red blood cells (RBC) and the mean corpuscular concentration in hemoglobin (MCCH) increased significantly (p 0.05). The mean weight of the newborn was of 3170 ± 374 g in the group supplemented against 3,192 ± 291 g at the reference group (p > 0.05). According to our results, it appears that the iron supplementation improves some parameters haematologically, the age gestation and the weight of the new-born baby.