SynthesisEuropean journal of clinical nutrition2019
A systematic literature review of the relation between iron status/anemia in pregnancy and offspring neurodevelopment.
Synthesis in European journal of clinical nutrition, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
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
47 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 77 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neurodevelopmental Impairments as Long-term Effects of Iron Deficiency in Early Childhood: A Systematic ReviewBalkan medical journal · 2025Pooled it
- Daily oral iron supplementation during pregnancy.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Maternal iron status in early pregnancy and DNA methylation in offspring: an epigenome-wide meta-analysis.Clinical epigenetics · 2022Pooled it
- The Role of Iron in Brain Development: A Systematic Review.Nutrients · 2020Pooled it
- Maternal Adiposity and Inflammation: Risk Factors for Iron Deficiency in Pregnancy.The Journal of nutrition · 2025Trial
- Prenatal iron supplementation adjusted to maternal iron stores reduces behavioural problems in 4-year-old children.Maternal & child nutrition · 2024Trial
- Anaemia and iron deficiency in pregnancy and adverse perinatal outcomes in Southern India.European journal of clinical nutrition · 2020Trial
- Cortisol Stress Response is Associated with Iron Status in Pregnancy.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Maternal Anemia and Pediatric Neurodevelopment in Children from Mothers Exposed to Mixed Heavy Metals in Suriname.Journal of xenobiotics · 2026Article
- Maternal Nutrition During Pregnancy and Fetal Outcome, Short- and Long-Term Health Effects: A Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Dietary guidance for pregnant women using DeepSeek-R1 and ChatGPT-4.0: a comparative analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Antenatal maternal anaemia and infant brain structure: high-field (3 T) and ultra-low-field (64 mT) MRI findings from South Africa.Brain communications · 2026Article
- Feasibility and Validity of Ultra-Low-Field MRI for Measurement of Regional Infant Brain Volumes in Structures Associated With Antenatal Maternal Anemia.Human brain mapping · 2026Article
- The Individual and Combined Effects of Prenatal Micronutrient Supplementations on Neurobehavioral Developmental Disorders in Preschool Children.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Impact of maternal anemia during pregnancy on neonatal metabolic profiles: evidence from the Beijing Birth Cohort Study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Observational
- Hematologic Complications of Pregnancy.European journal of haematology · 2025Review
- Anemia in pregnant women: findings from Kuwait birth cohort study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Prenatal Hemoglobin Concentration and Long-Term Child Neurocognitive Development.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2025Article
- Persistent impact of antenatal maternal anaemia on child brain structure at 6-7 years of age: a South African child health study.BMC medicine · 2025Article
- Maternal iron deficiency assessed by serum ferritin and birth outcomes in mainland China.Scientific reports · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe fetal brain starts developing early and animal studies have suggested that iron plays several roles for the development, but results from epidemiological studies investigating associations between gestational iron and offspring neurodevelopment are inconsistent.
objectiveTo systematically examine results from observational studies and RCTs on gestational iron and offspring neurodevelopment, with focus on the importance of four domains: iron status indicators, exposure timing, neurodevelopmental outcomes, and offspring age.
methodsPRISMA guidelines were followed. Embase, PsychInfo, Scopus, and The Cochrane library were searched in September 2017 and February 2018. Overall, 3307 articles were identified and 108 retrieved for full-text assessment. Pre-specified eligibility criteria were used to select studies and 27 articles were included;19 observational and 8 RCTs.
resultsIron status in pregnancy was associated with offspring behavior, cognition, and academic achievement. The direction of associations with behavioral outcomes were unclear and the conclusions related to cognition and academic achievement were based on few studies, only. Little evidence was found for associations with motor development. Observed associations were shown to persist beyond infancy into adolescence, and results depended on iron status indicator type but not on the timing of exposure.
conclusionWe conclude that there is some evidence that low pregnancy iron, possibly particularly in the 3rd trimester, may be associated with adverse offspring neurodevelopment. As most previous research used Hemoglobin, inferring results to iron deficiency should be done with caution. No conclusions could be reached regarding associations beyond early childhood, and supplementation with iron during pregnancy did not seem to influence offspring neurodevelopment.
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