Anaemia during pregnancy as a risk factor for infant iron deficiency: report from the Valencia Infant Anaemia Cohort (VIAC) study.

A prospective cohort study with a 1-year follow-up of 156 neonates was carried out specifically designed to test the hypothesis that there is a positive relationship between iron deficiency during pregnancy and the development of the same disease in newborn infants. Exposure was defined as being born of a mother with ferropenic anaemia at delivery, and cases as the infants who developed iron deficiency during their first year of life. A statistically significant positive association was detected with an odds ratio of 6.57 (95% confidence limits 1.81-25.97). A stratified analysis was also performed to control the effect of potential confounders such as socio-economic variables, feeding pract…