The Impact of Maternal Iron Deficiency and IDA on Childhood Essay

The Impact of Maternal Iron Deficiency and IDA on Childhood - Essay Example This leads to the complication during pregnancy and may trigger post-pregnancy complications to the mother and child. In a bid to determine the impact of maternal iron deficiency and IDA on childhood, an extensive literature review was conducted. The review identified sources that exhibited relevance to the research question and that were recent. After analysis of the sources, which were both primary and secondary sources, the findings were compiled and have been presented in the discussion. From this literature review, it emerges that children and women are the risk groups likely to develop anaemia. Iron deficiency has been described as the leading nutritional condition in the globe. Moreover, 52% of expectant mothers do not meet the recommended iron level. Deficiency of iron in expectant mothers presents several symptoms such as fatigue, paleness, faint feeling, sour mouth and tinnitus. The causes of iron deficiency will be described in depth in this paper. In pregnant women, lack of sufficient weight gain may present a higher risk to the development of iron deficiency. Iron deficiency has adverse effects on both the mother and the unborn baby. In some cases, effect on the unborn babies my progress to early childhood. Prop er diet and iron supplementation are some of the leading interventions. The World Health Organization (1) states that anaemia is a haemoglobin level of less than 13 g/dL for males 15 years and above, less than 12 g/dL in non-expectant women 15 years and above, and less than 11 g/dL in women who have conceived. The criteria used to diagnose anaemia are not standardised. Moreover, there is a lack of clarity as to the differentiation between functional iron deficiency and absolute iron deficiency (2). Additionally, what is defined as the standard range for haemoglobin also differs within a given population.