New INTERBIO-21st study describes relationship between haemoglobin concentration during pregnancy and adverse neonatal and maternal outcomes
The INTERBIO-21st Consortium from the Nuffield Department of Women’s & Reproductive Health and the Oxford Maternal and Perinatal Health Institute have published, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and the University of Emory, new findings on the association between maternal haemoglobin concentrations and maternal and neonatal outcomes.
Using INTERBIO-21st data from the INTERGROWTH-21st project, the group aimed to generate international, gestational age-specific values for haemoglobin distributions in healthy pregnant women and to describe the association between maternal haemoglobin concentrations and maternal and neonatal outcomes.
On commission from the WHO, the group published a first paper in 2020 “International values for haemoglobin distributions in healthy pregnant women” and have now followed up with their new 2023 publication in The Lancet Haematology, “Association between maternal haemoglobin concentrations and maternal and neonatal outcomes: the prospective, observational, multinational, INTERBIO-21st fetal study.”
Notably, for neonatal outcomes, results show an increased risk of preterm birth during the second and third trimesters and acute respiratory distress syndrome during the third trimester. For maternal outcomes, pregnancy-induced hypertension was shown to be associated with maternal haemoglobin, whereas the risk of gestational diabetes was reduced for women with haemoglobin values of less than 125 g/L both in the second and third trimesters.
Illustration: Kimberly Martens for OBG Management
