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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutritional Epidemiology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1535226

Detection of postpartum women anemia and its impact on their offspring in Zhejiang Province, China

Provisionally accepted
Mengjie He Mengjie He 1,2*lichun huang lichun huang 2*yan zou yan zou 2*Peiwei Xu Peiwei Xu 2danting su danting su 2*dong zhao dong zhao 2*Dan Han Dan Han 2ronghua zhang ronghua zhang 2*
  • 1 Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Hangzhou, China
  • 2 Zhejiang Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Zhejiang CDC), Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Information on the prevalence of postpartum women anemia is scarce in China, as well as its impact on their offspring. This study aimed to explore the influencing factors of anemia and the impact on the offspring. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 977 women within 2 years postpartum in 10 sites from 2016 to 2017 in Zhejiang Province, China. Information on demographics, nutrient supplementation and diet was collected. Whole blood hemoglobin, serum ferritin and transferrin receptor were assessed for all women and whole blood hemoglobin was assessed in offspring. The multivariate logistic regression was used to assess the determinants of anemia and the impact on the offspring by calculating odds ratio (OR) and its 95% confidence interval (95%CI). Results: Among 977 participants, 144 (14.74%) had anemia. Regression analysis showed that women intaking iron supplements during pregnancy (0.549, 0.350~0.860), and intaking sufficient red meat (0.647, 0.437~0.958) had lower rates of anemia, while women wo had anemia during pregnancy (2.754, 1.844~4.113 for mild anemia, and 3.815, 1.564~9.309 for moderate or severe anemia), had postpartum over 7 months (1.717, 1.112~2.650), with abnormal serum ferritin (11.931, 4.846~29.379) and excessive transferrin receptor levels (1.817, 1.050~3.145) had higher rates of anemia. Moreover, maternal anemia significantly increases the rate of anemia in offsprings, with ORs being 1.456 (0.994~2.133) for mild anemia, and 2.961 (1.242~7.058) for moderate or severe anemia, respectively. Conclusions: The status of anemia in postpartum women was severe and its impact on the anemia of their offspring should be noted. It is highly necessary to strengthen the regular monitoring of hemoglobin levels in pregnant and postpartum women, as well as implement targeted dietary interventions and suggest to intake dietary supplements if necessary.

    Keywords: Anemia, postpartum women, offspring, Determinant, prenatal anemia

    Received: 27 Nov 2024; Accepted: 03 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 He, huang, zou, Xu, su, zhao, Han and zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Mengjie He, Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Hangzhou, China
    lichun huang, Zhejiang Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Zhejiang CDC), Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
    yan zou, Zhejiang Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Zhejiang CDC), Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
    danting su, Zhejiang Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Zhejiang CDC), Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
    dong zhao, Zhejiang Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Zhejiang CDC), Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
    ronghua zhang, Zhejiang Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Zhejiang CDC), Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China

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