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ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to determine whether iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in mothers alters their
maternal cognitive and behavioral performance, the mother-infant interaction, and the infant’s development. This article
focuses on the relation between IDA and cognition as well as behavioral affect in the young mothers. This prospective,
randomized, controlled, intervention trial was conducted in South Africa among 3 groups of mothers: nonanemic
controls and anemic mothers receiving either placebo (10 g folate and 25 mg vitamin C) or daily iron (125 mg FeS04,
10 g folate, 25 mg vitamin C). Mothers of full-term normal birth weight babies were followed from 10 wk to 9 mo
postpartum (n ⫽ 81). Maternal hematologic and iron status, socioeconomic, cognitive, and emotional status, mother-
Iron deficiency is the most common single nutrient defi- they were of high socioeconomic status (11). This observation
ciency in the world with estimates of ⬎50% of women of is consistent with a general association between improved iron
reproductive age being affected (1). Most research on infants status and the ability to concentrate as well as a reduction in
and young children is consistent with a negative effect of iron fatigue with iron therapy (7–9,12).
deficiency anemia (IDA)3 on cognitive and behavioral devel- The mechanism(s) by which iron deficiency alters cogni-
opment (2–5). Less research has focused on the effects of iron tion and behavior in adults is largely unexplored despite the
deficiency in adolescents or young adults (6 –9). Of particular generally accepted observation that iron-deficient individuals
interest to us is the effect of iron deficiency on behavior and suffer malaise, are lethargic, and may be less vigilant in per-
cognitive functioning (10). Groner and colleagues (6) dem- forming tasks (10,11). Electrophysiologic recordings showed
onstrated a number of years ago that iron treatment of preg- increased asymmetry related to serum ferritin in adults but no
nant adolescents resulted in an improvement in the Digit relation to anemia per se (12). Neurotransmitter metabolism
Symbol cognitive test. More recently, hemoglobin (Hb) con- was altered in 2 different studies of iron-deficient adult women
centration was observed to be significantly related to postpar- but the relation to cognition and behavior was not explored
tum depression and fatigue in mothers despite the fact that (13,14). Animal studies with adult onset iron deficiency were
not conclusive regarding neural functioning (15). There is no
apparent requirement for “anemia” per se, because Bruner et
1
Supported by an International Life Studies Institute Research Foundation al. (9) documented a relation between poor memory and low
Grant.
2
ferritin levels in nonanemic iron-deficient adolescents. Treat-
To whom correspondence should be addressed.
E-mail: jbeard@psu.edu. ment trials showed an association between iron treatment and
3
Abbreviations used: CN, control; CRP, C-reactive protein; EPDS, Edinburgh measures of lassitude (7) and memory (6), suggesting that
Postnatal Depression Scale; Ft, ferritin; Hb, hemoglobin; ID, iron deficiency; IDA, cognitive and behavioral domains do respond directly to an
iron deficiency anemia; IDA-Fe, iron-deficient anemic receiving iron; IDA-PL,
iron-deficient anemic receiving placebo; MCV, mean corpuscular volume; R, improvement in iron status.
rand; STAI, state-trait anxiety inventory; TSAT, transferrin saturation. The overall aim of the study was to determine whether IDA
267
268 BEARD ET AL.
TABLE 1
Data collection scheme for mothers and infants1
Assessment 6 wk 10 wk 9 mo
1 In addition, home visits occurred every 2 wk to reinforce supplement use and to observe home environment variables.
in postpartum mothers is associated with behavioral changes the duration of the study, have no chronic diseases, and be apparently
consistent with negative effects on the mother’s interaction healthy at the physical health screening.4 The infants had to be ⬎38
with her infant and on the infant’s development. This specific wk of gestational age, have a birth weight ⬎ 2500 g, have no
report will present the data collected in poor young South hospitalization during the neonatal period, and have Apgar scores
consistent with normal intrauterine growth and development.
African women on the effect of maternal IDA on maternal Subject enrollment. We employed an opportunistic sampling
RESULTS
TABLE 2
Demographic variables in nonanemic CN women and IDA women administered PL or Fe1,2
y kg/m2 R/mo %
Anemic (IDA-PL ⫹ IDA-Fe) 64 23.2 ⫾ 4.0 26.8 ⫾ 4.3 996 ⫾ 774 86.8
Nonanemic (CN) 31 23.8 ⫾ 3.7 28.4 ⫾ 5.4 843 ⫾ 623 75.7
TABLE 3
Maternal hematological and iron status variables at 10 wk and 9 mo postpartum in nonanemic CN women and IDA women
administered PL or Fe1,2
Hb MCV TSAT Ft
Group n 10 wk 9 mo 10 wk 9 mo 10 wk 9 mo 10 wk 9 mo
g/L fL g/L
IDA-PL 21 109 ⫾ 7b 120 ⫾ 8b* 84.4 ⫾ 6.7 86.1 ⫾ 5.6 0.089 ⫾ 0.042b 0.129 ⫾ 0.070c 11.9 ⫾ 5.1b 17.1 ⫾ 13.9b
IDA-Fe 30 108 ⫾ 9b 129 ⫾ 8b* 87.0 ⫾ 7.6 89.3 ⫾ 4.1 0.084 ⫾ 0.043b 0.213 ⫾ 0.085b* 10.6 ⫾ 6.6b 33.8 ⫾ 19.8a*
CN 30 136 ⫾ 5a 134 ⫾ 9a 90.7 ⫾ 12.4 91.7 ⫾ 4.4 0.274 ⫾ 0.104a 0.286 ⫾ 0.116a 56.0 ⫾ 28.0a 48.4 ⫾ 33.6a
1 Values are means ⫾ SEM. Means in a column with superscripts without a common letter differ, P ⬍ 0.05. * Different from baseline, P ⬍ 0.05.
2 Data were log transformed to normalize the distribution before ANOVA but untransformed values are presented.
intake was 54% of the recommended South African intake levels did not change the main effects of iron treatment of
for lactating mothers (16). anemic mothers.
Iron treatment for 6 mo in the IDA-Fe mothers signifi- To determine the strength of the association of cognitive
cantly improved Hb, TSAT, and Ft values, but was insufficient and emotional state variables with iron status variables, we
to completely normalize Ft concentrations in all mothers (Ta- performed correlation and regression analysis (Table 5). At 10
ble 3). Anemic mothers provided with the placebo micronu- wk, scores on the Raven’s test were significantly correlated
TABLE 4
Scores on cognitive and behavioral measures at 10 wk and 9 mo postpartum for nonanemic CN women and IDA women
administered PL or Fe1,2
Group n 10 wk 9 mo 10 wk 9 mo 10 wk 9 mo 10 wk 9 mo 10 wk 9 mo
IDA-PL 21 2.4 ⫾ 0.4 2.9 ⫾ 0.5a 27.9 ⫾ 1.0 27.6 ⫾ 0.1 12.4 ⫾ 0.7 17.2 ⫾ 1.1a* 16.6 ⫾ 0.6 16.7 ⫾ 1.0b 7.0 ⫾ 0.2 6.3 ⫾ 0.5c
IDA-Fe 30 2.5 ⫾ 0.3 2.1 ⫾ 0.3b 27.5 ⫾ 1.0 27.9 ⫾ 0.1 16.5 ⫾ 1.0 15.7 ⫾ 1.2b 15.8 ⫾ 0.6 20.4 ⫾ 1.0a* 7.0 ⫾ 1.3 6.1 ⫾ 0.3b*
CN 30 3.1 ⫾ 0.4 3.3 ⫾ 0.5a 27.2 ⫾ 0.9 28.6 ⫾ 0.2 15.3 ⫾ 0.8 19.1 ⫾ 1.0a* 18.1 ⫾ 0.7 20.3 ⫾ 1.0a* 6.5 ⫾ 0.2 6.8 ⫾ 0.6a
1 Values are means ⫾ SEM. Means in a column with superscripts without a common letter differ, P ⬍ 0.05. * Different from baseline, P ⬍ 0.05.
2 Data were log transformed to normalize the distribution before ANOVA but untransformed values are presented.
POSTPARTUM IRON DEFICIENCY AND COGNITION 271
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