Critical Appraisal



Critical Appraisal

Brion M, Leary S, Davey Smith G, McArdle H, Ness A. Maternal anemia, iron intake in pregnancy, and offspring blood pressure in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2008; 88:1126-1133.

Critcal Appraisal

The study involved “The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children”, which helped in providing the data needed for this research. The investigation had a significant sample size of women and children. Data for maternal hemoglobin and blood pressure of children was provided by 7484. This is a significant number for the analysis of the results. Furthermore, the methodology was also based on the ethical grounds as the investigation had a prior approval of ALSPAC. In order to ensure that the analysis did not have biasness, random number generation was used to select the sample, which was the lowest 2500 numbers. Questionnaires were distributed to obtain the data pertaining to the intake of irons and supplements of pregnant women. On the other hand, the study used Dinamap 9301Vital Signs Monitor to measure blood pressure. The measurements and readings were a question of concern. However, the equipment is known to provide reliable measurements. The significance value of less than 0.05 ensured the testing of the hypothesis. One of the significant aspects of this study is its ability to provide data on both maternal anemia and iron supplementation. However, one of the limitations of the study is the loss to follow-up and missing data on anemia. Moreover, the questionnaire used in this study was not adjusted according to diet diaries.

Anemia in pregnant women is frequent in general, and depends on the part of the nutritional status of the population. In developed countries, there are 10 to 20% of women from affluent backgrounds and over 30% of women in disadvantaged with anemia. In developing countries where dietary iron is not bioavailable to morbidity and mortality come to relate to complications of anemia during pregnancy. Studies in such countries show high prevalence of anemia of pregnancy, in most cases, more than 50%, with a hemoglobin rate of less than 11g/dl. The prevalence is higher among younger women ranging in age around twenty years, and it is even stronger than the gestational age. Anemia is a response to carentiel mechanism: nutrition, martial and folate (Ehiri, 2010). It is usually related to iron deficiency. Maternal anemia by is caused by iron deficiency, which appears to result in decreased placental weight and birth weight of the newborn, with lower iron stores and increased risk of developing anemia. It also increases the risk of prematurity and of fetal hypotrophy. For better management, Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children focused on the study of iron status of pregnant women to seek a possible iron deficiency and correct it. However, the impact of iron therapy at low doses (30 mg of iron per day / per woman anemic) on age gestational and weight of newborns was studied.

Iron and folic acid are essential for the body of every ...