A new study has found that 1 out of 2 pregnant women have an iron deficiency, despite the availability of a screening test. Pregnancy is one of the hardest things a woman will have to go through. Some women have pregnancies that are considered “easy” and they don’t suffer from a lot of the symptoms and hardships that come along with it. Others have a harder time getting through the nine months. It is important for a woman to make sure she is taking care of herself, both for her health and the health of her unborn baby.
According to Medical Xpress, one in two pregnancies are affected by iron deficiencies, but there is a simple screening test for women to check their iron levels. This was based on a recent paper that was published in Blood Advances and can be read in full here.
The study was done by conducting blood draws of expecting women, and half of them had low iron levels. And 1 in 4 had severe iron deficiency. They also found that 40% of the women in the study had never had their iron levels checked, something that is done by drawing blood, a relatively simple and fast screening check.
This is concerning to experts because of how common iron deficiency is in pregnancy. It is a nod to health care providers to speak to their patients about getting their iron levels checked at appointments. They are stating that iron level testing needs to be made a standard practice during prenatal care. Jennifer Teichman was one of the lead authors from the University of Toronto, and she said that they are not doing a “good job” when it comes to checking for iron deficiency, and they need to do better since it is such a simple problem to fix.
Iron in pregnancy is vital to making sure the fetus develops appropriately, the placenta is healthy, and that there is enough blood supply needed to make sure the pregnancy is healthy. Low iron in an expectant mother can lead to premature delivery, low birth weight, and even post-partum delivery. Though it may be rare, it can even cause maternal fatalities, which can all be avoided by getting a screening done to see where the levels are during pregnancy. The study included more than 44,000 pregnant women in Ontario between the years 2013 and 2018. They found that when the iron is tested it is typically very early in the pregnancy (first prenatal visit) and this is when the risk is lowest when testing needs to happen later to ensure accuracy.
Sources: Medical Xpress, ASH Publications