Abstract
As indicative of the iron status during the early anemia of prematurity, transferrin, iron, and ferritin levels of plasma were followed in infants with birth weight less than 1500 g. Ceruloplasmin, thought to act as ferroxidase, was also studied. Oral iron therapy was started at the age of four weeks.
Transferrin concentration rose steadily from a mean value of 1.58 g/1 at 1 week of age to 2.17 g/1 at 8 weeks of age. Plasma iron concentration at 1 week of age was 15.6 ± 5.5 umol/1 and did not change significantly during the 8 week period. Ferritin in cord blood of full term infants was within the range of normal adult males, while the levels in cord blood from 10 infants with birth weight less than 2000 g were lower. Ferritin levels during the course of the early anemia will be discussed. Ceruloplasmin showed a more variable course than transferrin, but after 4 weeks a progressive rise occured. Mean value at 1 week of age was 0.11 g/1, at 6 weeks 0.13 g/1, and 0.15 g/1 at 8 weeks.
The plasma iron levels observed are within the normal range for full term infants. However, whether they provide suffient available iron for the accelerated erythropoiesis of this period is unclear. The progressive rise in transferrin suggests that in this period the level more reflects the increase in general protein synthesizing capacity than the iron status. Ferritin concentration, on the other hand, seems to reflect iron stores.
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Hågå, P. THE EARLY ANEMIA OF PREMATURITY. PLASMA LEVELS OF TRANSFERRIN, IRON, FERRITIN, AND CERULOPLASMIN. Pediatr Res 12, 66 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197801000-00040
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197801000-00040