Necessity for iron deficiency screenings at birth with Geetika Kennady, MD, FAAP
New research led by Geetika Kennady, MD, FAAP, showed that 10.6% of newborns have iron deficiency, supporting a push for earlier screening.
At the 2025 Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii, Geetika Kennady, MD, FAAP—neonatologist at Thomas Jefferson University and Nemours Children's Health—presented findings from her team's prospective study highlighting the prevalence of iron deficiency (ID) at birth and the need for early screening.
"In the past, everybody used to think that babies are never born iron deficient because they scavenge all the iron for mom," Kennady explained. "But now, more and more studies have come out saying that this scavenging doesn't happen in all babies." Kennady emphasized that factors such as prematurity, placental insufficiency, maternal anemia, diabetes, hypertension, smoking, and alcoholism disrupt fetal iron transfer.
The study prospectively analyzed 396 infants by collecting umbilical cord blood samples and assessing complete blood counts, reticulocyte hemoglobin equivalent (Ret-He), serum ferritin, serum iron, and transferrin saturation (TS). ID was defined as serum ferritin ≤50 ng/mL or TS ≤30%. Overall, 10.6% of infants were found to be iron deficient, including 11.2% of high-risk infants and 8.1% of no-risk infants, at birth.
Further stratification revealed 8.3% of preterm infants, 10.4% of small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infants, 13.5% of infants born to mothers with diabetes, 12.9% with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), and 11.7% with maternal anemia were iron deficient at birth.
"With these high prevalence rates, we should be prioritizing early screening and identification of iron deficiency at birth," Kennady stated. "Studies have shown that if babies are iron deficient, there is long-term neurodevelopmental impairment. Treatment is a pretty low-risk treatment, widely available, low-cost treatment, which is iron supplementation," added Kennady.
Plans are underway for larger studies and randomized trials to determine whether universal screening is warranted.
Geetika Kennady, MD, FAAP has no relavent disclosures.
Reference:
Kennady G, Huang R, Bodycot KC, et al. Assessing the necessity for Iron deficiency screening at birth: Are we missing critical intervention opportunities? Poster. Presented at: Pediatric Academic Societies 2025 Meeting; April 24-28, 2025. Honolulu, Hawaii.
