ArticleBirth defects research. Part A, Clinical and molecular teratology2014
Is low iron status a risk factor for neural tube defects?
Article in Birth defects research. Part A, Clinical and molecular teratology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Beyond Folate: The Emerging Role of Maternal Vitamin B12 in Neural Tube Development.Nutrients · 2025Pooled it
- Determinants of neural tube defects among women who gave birth in hospitals in Eastern Ethiopia: evidence from a matched case control study.BMC women's health · 2023Article
- Pathogenesis of neural tube defects: The regulation and disruption of cellular processes underlying neural tube closure.WIREs mechanisms of disease · 2022Review
- Micronutrient imbalance and common phenotypes in neural tube defects.Genesis (New York, N.Y. : 2000) · 2021Review
- High levels of iron supplementation prevents neural tube defects in the Fpn1Birth defects research · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundFolic acid supplements can protect against neural tube defects (NTDs). Low folate and low vitamin B12 status may be maternal risk factors for having an NTD affected pregnancy. However, not all NTDs are preventable by having an adequate folate/ B12 status and other potentially modifiable factors may be involved. Folate and vitamin B12 status have important links to iron metabolism. Animal studies support an association between poor iron status and NTDs, but human data are scarce. We examined the relevance of low iron status in a nested NTD case-control study of women within a pregnant population-based cohort.
methodsPregnant women were recruited between 1986 and 1990, when vitamin or iron supplementation in early pregnancy was rare. Blood samples, taken at an average of 14 weeks gestation, were used to measure ferritin and hemoglobin in 64 women during an NTD affected pregnancy and 207 women with unaffected pregnancies.
resultsNo significant differences in maternal ferritin or hemoglobin concentrations were observed between NTD affected and nonaffected pregnancies (case median ferritin 16.9 µg/L and hemoglobin 12.4 g/dl versus 15.4 µg/L and 12.3g/dl in controls). As reported previously, red cell folate and vitamin B12 concentrations were significantly lower in cases. Furthermore, there was no significant association of iron status with type of NTD lesion (anencephaly or spina bifida).
conclusionWe conclude that low maternal iron status during early pregnancy is not an independent risk factor for NTDs. Adding iron to folic acid for periconceptional use may improve iron status but is not likely to prevent NTDs.
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Registered trials
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