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Research and Reports in Gynecology and Obstetrics | Volume 3
November 14-15, 2019 | Singapore
Obstetrics and Gynecology
4
th
International Conference on
The importance of blood management in childbearing age women
Lau Ching Wa
Blood Transfusion Services, Hong Kong
I
ron is a precious resource for all living organisms. In
human, it is vital for fetus and infant neurodevelopment,
neuronal functions, cardiac muscle and skeletal muscle
functions, hormonal synthesis and bodily detoxification.
A tight mechanism exists in regulating its uses for different
bodily functions, its absorption and its storage. However,
there is virtually no excretion mechanism for iron in human
other than minimal insensible loss from intestinal mucosal
desquamation or sweat. As a matter of factor, iron is recycled
inside the body and absorption only takes place to replenish
the insensible loss. The total bodily iron in a child bearing age
woman is around 45mg/kg (that is 2500mg to 3500mg), two
third of them are embedded in the red blood cells, less than
5mg/kg of iron are embedded in various tissues carrying out
numerous vital bodily functions, and the remaining of them
are stored in the reticulo-endothelial system, namely liver
and spleen. Blood loss including physiological menstrual
loss and inadequate oral intake are two major causes of iron
deficiency in childbearing age women. Many childbearing
age women are long standing iron deficient without being
diagnosed and never receive appropriate treatment. It would
be detrimental if they are undergoing pregnancy, because
a normal uncomplicated pregnancy requires up to 1000mg
of iron and it could not be possibly provided by the mother.
Fetal growth requires iron throughout the pregnancy;
however, the critical neurodevelopment happens in the third
trimester where iron is found to be rapidly accumulated in
some areas of the brain, notably hippocampus and the
surrounding tissues. This process continues throughout
the early infancy up to 2 years of age. Numerous studies
supported that maternal iron deficiency is a key cause of the
development of childhood learning difficulties, speech and
language impairment, autism, attention- deficit hyperactivity
disorder and more. More importantly, those abnormal
neurodevelopment disorders are not reversible by iron
supplement after their diagnosis at childhood. This highlights
the imperative of adequate iron stores in all childbearing age
women. Nevertheless, iron deficiency anemia in childbearing
age women are prevalent all over the world, it could be more
than 20% in developed areas and even more in developing
areas. WHO responded the situation by setting a clear
global target of reducing iron deficiency in childbearing age
women by 50% in 2025. Thus, it is time for administrators and
clinicians to put effort in achieving the target. In conclusion,
appropriate management of iron deficiency does not only
benefit the health of the childbearing age women, but also
the health of our next generation.
e
:
laucw4@ha.org.hkRes Rep Gynaecol Obstet, Volume:3
DOI: 10.35841/2591-7366-C3-009