Iron supplementation in pregnancy

Iron deficiency anemia is the most common nutritional deficiency in the world. Pregnant women a re at especially high risk for iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia. A considerable proportion of pregnant women in both developing and industrialized countries become anemic during pregnancy. The prevalence of anemia in pregnant vvomen has remained unacceptably high worldwide despite the fact that routine iron supplementation during pregnancy has been almost universally recommended to prevent maternal anemia especially in developing countries över the past 30 years. The majör problem with iron supplementation during pregnancy is compliance. Despite many studies, the relationship betvveen maternal anemia and adverse pregnancy outcome is unclear. However, there is now sufficient evidence that iron supplements increase hemoglobin and serum ferritin levels during pregnancy and also improves the maternal iron status in the puerperium, even in women who enter pregnancy with adecjuate iron stores. Recent information also suggests an association between maternal iron status in pregnancy and the iron status of infants postpartum. The necessity of routine iron supplementation during pregnancy has been debated in industrialized countries and routine supplementation is not universally practiced in ali these countries. İn view of existing data, however, routine iron supplementation during pregnancy seems to be a safe strategy to prevent maternal anemia in developing countries, where traditional diets provide inadequate iron and where malaria and other infections causing increased losses are endemic. Key words: iron supplementation, pregnancy, anemia.