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. 2019 Mar 18;14(3):e0212817.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0212817. eCollection 2019.

Maternal anemia and birth weight: A prospective cohort study

Ana Claudia Morais Godoy Figueiredo  1 , Isaac Suzart Gomes-Filho  2 , Josicélia Estrela Tuy Batista  3 , Géssica Santana Orrico  3 , Edla Carvalho Lima Porto  2 , Rodolfo Macedo Cruz Pimenta  2 , Sarah Dos Santos Conceição  2 , Sheila Monteiro Brito  3 , Michelle de Santana Xavier Ramos  3 , Maria Cristina Ferreira Sena  1 , Saulo Wesley Silva Lessa Vilasboas  3 , Simone Seixas da Cruz  3 , Mauricio Gomes Pereira  1
Affiliations

Maternal anemia and birth weight: A prospective cohort study

Ana Claudia Morais Godoy Figueiredo et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the association between maternal anemia and low/insufficient birth weight.

Design: A prospective cohort study of pregnant women who underwent prenatal care at the healthcare units in a municipality of northeast Brazil together with their newborn infants was carried out. The pregnant women were classified as having anemia when the hemoglobin level was below 11 g/dl. Infants who were born full term weighing less than 2500 grams were classified as low birth weight, and those weighing between 2500 and 2999 grams were classified as insufficient weight. The occurrence of maternal anemia and its association with birth weight was verified using crude and adjusted Relative Risk (RR) estimates with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs).

Results: The final sample was comprised of 622 women. Maternal anemia was considered a risk factor for low/insufficient birth weight, after adjusting the effect measurement for maternal age, family income, urinary infection, parity, alcoholic beverage consumption during pregnancy and gestational body mass index: RRadjusted = 1.38 [95% CI: 1.07 to 1.77].

Conclusions: Maternal anemia was associated with low/insufficient birth weight, representing a risk factor for the gestational outcomes studied.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Flowchart of the sample participant selection process.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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