Cord Blood Serum Ferritin of Infants of Diabetic Mothers

Introduction: Maternal diabetes mellitus is associated with depleted fetal iron stores and this is proportionate to the degree of maternal control, presence or absence of diabetes-related complications, and is not related to maternal iron status. In this study, we aim to assess the effect of maternal diabetes on cord blood serum ferritin. Methods: The present prospective (case-control) study was carried out in AL-Zahraa Teaching Hospital (March 2012-October 2012). Umbilical cord blood samples were collected from 100 newborn infants who were delivered normally or by caesarean section. Fifty infants of diabetic mothers (IDMs) and 50 normal control neonates were randomly recruited. A serum sample was obtained to measure ferritin concentrations by mini VIDAS machine, which compares the results with the standards. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS (statistical package for social sciences) Version 17. Independent sample t-test was used for data measurement and chi-square test for analyzing the categorical data. Also, Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to compare two measurement variables. P-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: There was no significant difference between IDMs and infants of healthy mothers, regarding the gestational age at the time of delivery (P=0.31). Also, there was no significant difference between the two groups, regarding their packed cell volume (PCV), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), and red cell distribution width (RDW) (P > 0.05). Finally, there was a highly significant difference between the two groups, regarding cord blood serum ferritin (P < 0.05). Conclusion: This study shows that IDMs have lower tissue iron stores (S. ferritin) at birth. Also, according to the results, there is a significant association between S. ferritin, gestational age and birth weight in these neonates.