Early pregnancy anemia linked to higher risk of heart defects in newborns

New research published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology found that mothers who are anemic in early pregnancy face a higher likelihood of giving birth to a child with a heart defect.

The study assessed the health records of 2,776 women with a child diagnosed with congenital heart disease who were matched to 13,880 women whose children did not have this condition.

Investigators found that 4.4% of children with congenital heart disease and 2.8% of children with normal heart function had anemia. After adjusting for potential influencing factors, the odds of giving birth to a child with congenital heart disease was 47% higher among anemic mothers.

We already know that the risk of congenital heart disease can be raised by a variety of factors, but these results develop our understanding of anemia specifically and take it from lab studies to the clinic. Knowing that early maternal anemia is so damaging could be a gamechanger worldwide. Because iron deficiency is the root cause of many cases of anemia, widespread iron supplementation for women-both when trying for a baby and when pregnant-could help prevent congenital heart disease in many newborns before it has developed."

Duncan B. Sparrow, PhD, corresponding author, University of Oxford