A Screening Tool for Identifying High-Risk Pregnant Women of Fe Deficiency Anemia : Process II / 대한지역사회영양학회지

Pregnant women in South Korea are a highly risk group for iron deficiency anemia. Previous studies indicated that the 24-hour recall method was insensitive in distinguishing iron deficiency anemic women from normal women. This method is also impractical to when used at community health centers where no public health dietitians are employed. The objective of this study was to develop a convenient tool to evaluate the usual iron (Fe) intake of pregnant women. The study participants were 115 pregnant women (age 23 to 37 years) at gestational stage of 13 to 24 weeks. Anemic subjects were classified on the basis of their serum ferritin < 12.0 microgram/L and hemoglobin < 12.0microgram/dL levels. Food frequency questionnaires with 46, 29, and 15 commonly consumed food items were used to measure the usual intake of iron of the subjects. Hemoglobin and serum ferritin were measured from fasting blood samples. Nutrients intake was assessed on three consecutive days using the 24-hour recall method and the food record method. The iron index score calculated using the food frequency method showed a significantly positive correlation with iron intake for the three days dietary intake. The iron index showed a significantly difference (p < 0.05) between the normal and anemic groups. However, there was no significant difference in the iron intake between the anemic and the normal women as measured by the 24-hour recall and food record method. Our study indicated that the 29-food items questionnaire could be used as a screening tool to identify poor dietary intake of iron.

A Screening Tool for Identifying High-Risk Pregnant Women of Fe Deficiency Anemia : Process I / 대한지역사회영양학회지

Iron deficiency anemia is a worldwide public health problem relevant to unsound nutritional practice. While the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia is very common among pregnant women, appropriate nutritional service programs to improve the iron status are lacking in Korea. In an attempt to develop a nutritional screening tool to separate the high-risk subjects of iron deficiency, we carried out a nutritional survey for 115 Korean pregnant women whose gestational age ranged from 13 to 24 weeks. Each subject was interviewed with questionnaires for general characteristics and dietary habits. Food intake was measured by 24-hour recap method and 2 day record. Fasting blood was drawn for measuring hemoglobin and serum ferritin. It appeared that half of the pregnant women belonged to the anemia group and had insufficient dietary habits to provide adequate amounts of dietary iron. The first gravida and the working women had better hematological iron indicators than the second or more gravida and the housewives. It also appeared that women who had bigger family size and lower BMI in pre-pregnancy had poorer iron status. Among the food consumption habits, fruit dependent dietary habit was related to poor iron status. Sufficiently consumed green leafy vegetable and appropriate amount of food before morning sickness were positive factors of iron stares. Our results indicated that parity, BMI, current job, family size, food habits including consumption of fruits, green & yellow vegetables, and food habits before the onset of morning sickness are significant factors to contribute the Fe deficiency anemia during pregnancy.