Julia Colomer

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 practices and other factors linked with the iron status of infants. This second analytical procedure showed no alteration in the association detected in the simple analysis but that there was a statistically significant strong interaction between the quantity of cow's milk intake and the ferropenic status of the mother. These results show a relationship between iron deficiency of the mother at delivery and the development of iron deficiency in the infants. These new findings could be important in the development of new prevention programmes applied to pregnant women.

A mother's emotional state is a well-known environmental factor that relates to the development of infant temperament. However, some relevant issues have not yet been fully explored. The current study examines the influence of determined maternal, contextual and perinatal variables on infant temperament and the mother's confidence in caregiving during the first weeks of life. A prospective study was carried out in three-hundred and seventeen newborns and their mothers. Perinatal and socio-demographic variables were recorded. The mother's anxiety and mood were measured in the first days after childbirth and again at 8 weeks. Infant temperament and the mother's confidence in caregiving were measured at 8 weeks. A mother's postpartum anxiety following delivery was the best predictor for most of the variables of infant temperament, including infant irritability (p = .001), and other child variables like infant sleep (p = .0003) and nursing difficulty (p = .001). Contextual-family variables, such as the number of people at home (p = .0024) and whether they were primiparous (p = .001), were the best predictors for a mother's confidence in caregiving. Support was found for an early effect of maternal anxiety on infant temperament. The results have clinical implications for postnatal psychological interventions.

A cross-sectional study was performed to assess the relative importance of well-known risk factors for iron deficiency in one-year-old children and to detect new ones. Serum ferritin, erythrocyte protoporphyrin and haemoglobin were used as diagnostic tools to screen for iron deficiency. Epidemiologic analysis of data included measures of association, potential impact and a log-linear model to obtain adjusted measures. Socioeconomic variables show a strong association with iron deficiency (low income, odds ratio = 5.07, UCL = 16.08, LCL = 1.60; unemployed father, odds ratio = 4.16, UCL = 14.94, LCL = 1.16; emigration, odds ratio = 9.14, UCL = 54.56, LCL = 1.53). Some errors in feeding practices raise the risk of anaemia, especially the early consumption of cow milk (odds ratio = 21.0, UCL = 85.34, LCL = 5.16). This relationship is quantified and a cut-off point for the increased risk is determined at 500 ml per day (odds ratio = 14.56, UCL = 47.85, LCL = 4.44). Iron deficiency, although associated with poverty, is also related with very easily avoidable errors in the infant diet.