Abstract
Background:
Maternal hemoglobin and iron status measures during pregnancy might affect the developing fetal respiratory system leading to adverse respiratory conditions. Our aim was to assess the associations of maternal hemoglobin and iron status measures during pregnancy with the risk of respiratory tract infections in children until 10 years of age.
Methods:
In a population-based cohort study among 5134 mother–child pairs, maternal hemoglobin and iron status including ferritin, transferrin, and transferrin saturation were measured during early pregnancy. In children, physician-attended respiratory tract infections from age 6 months until 10 years were assessed by questionnaires. Confounder-adjusted generalized estimating equation modeling was applied.
Results:
After taking multiple testing into account, high maternal ferritin concentrations and low maternal transferrin saturation during pregnancy were associated with an overall increased risk of upper, not lower, respiratory tract infections until age 10 years of the child [OR (95% CI: 1.23 (1.10, 1.38) and 1.28 (1.12, 1.47), respectively)]. High maternal transferrin saturation during pregnancy was associated with a decreased and increased risk of upper respiratory tract infections at 1 and 6 years, respectively, [OR (95% CI: 0.60 (0.44, 0.83) and 1.54 (1.17, 2.02))]. Observed associations were suggested to be U-shaped (p-values for non-linearity ≤.001). Maternal hemoglobin and iron status measures during pregnancy were not consistently associated with child's gastroenteritis and urinary tract infections, as proxies for general infection effects.
Conclusion:
High maternal ferritin and low transferrin saturation concentrations during early pregnancy were most consistently associated with an overall increased risk of child's upper, not lower, respiratory tract infections.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e14025 |
| Journal | Pediatric Allergy and Immunology |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Sept 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The Generation R Study is made possible by financial support from the Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, the Erasmus University Rotterdam, and the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development. Hugo G. Quezada‐Pinedo received funding from Autoridad Nacional del Servicio Civil, Lima, Peru (grant agreement No 045.2017) and Academy Ter Meulen grant of the Academy Medical Sciences Fund of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts & Sciences (KNAWWF/1327/TMB202116). Liesbeth Duijts and Vincent Jaddoe received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (LIFECYCLE, grant agreement No 733206, 2016; EUCAN‐Connect grant agreement No 824989; ATHLETE, grant agreement No 874583). The researchers are independent from the funders. The study sponsors had no role in the study design, data analysis, interpretation of data, or writing of this report.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. Pediatric Allergy and Immunology published by European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.