Maternal iron status-adjusted prenatal iron supplementation enhances cognitive function in kids

Tailoring prenatal iron supplementation according to the mother’s haemoglobin levels and baseline iron stores leads to improved cognitive functioning in children at 4 years of age, according to a study.

The study included 295 pregnant women with sufficient iron stores recruited in early pregnancy and their offspring (4 years of age). During pregnancy, the women received different iron doses based on haemoglobin levels before the 12th gestational week: 80 vs 40 mg/day if haemoglobin was 110–130 g/L and 20 vs 40 mg/day if haemoglobin was >130 g/L.

For the assessment of children's cognitive functioning, the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-IV and Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment-II tests were used. Analyses were carried out using multivariate regression models.

When mothers had initial serum ferritin <15 µg/L, taking 80 mg/day of iron during pregnancy had a positive association with all the scales of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-IV and Neuropsychological Assessment-II for children at age 4 years.

However, when mothers showed initial serum ferritin >65 µg/L, taking 80 mg/day of iron was negatively associated with Verbal Comprehension Index, Working Memory Index, Processing Speed Index, and Vocabulary Acquisition Index from Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-IV and verbal fluency index from Neuropsychological Assessment-II.

Meanwhile, when women had initial serum ferritin >65 µg/L, taking 20 mg/day of iron was positively associated with Working Memory Index, Intelligence Quotient, verbal fluency, and emotion recognition indices.