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Maternal obesity and impaired offspring neurodevelopment: could fetal iron deficiency be a pathogenic link?

Journal of Perinatology volume 41, pages 1199–1200 (2021)Cite this article

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We thank Drs. Tong and Kalish [1] for their excellent review article summarizing associations between maternal obesity and impaired offspring neurodevelopment. We respectfully propose including one additional entry to their list of potentially responsible causal mechanisms. Specifically, we propose including the association between maternal obesity and fetal biochemical iron deficiency, and between fetal iron deficiency and neurodevelopmental delay.

Pregnancy is normally characterized by increased intestinal absorption of iron to meet maternal and fetal needs. However, both maternal obesity and excessive gestational weight gain are associated with maternal and fetal iron deficiency. In 2014, Phillips et al. demonstrated that women with a prepregnancy body mass index ≥ 30 kg/m2 or excessive gestational weight gain delivered offspring with lower serum ferritin concentrations, compared to nonobese women or those without excessive gestational weight gain [2]. Although in their study maternal diabetes was associated with diminished infant iron status, obesity in the absence of diabetes was also an independent predictor of decreased infant iron status [2]. Subsequent studies have upheld this association [3,4,5,6,7].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology, University of Utah Health, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Timothy M. Bahr, Robin K. Ohls & Robert D. Christensen

  2. Center for Iron and Heme Disorders, University of Utah Health, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Timothy M. Bahr, Diane M. Ward & Robert D. Christensen

  3. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, University of Utah Health, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Ashley E. Benson

  4. Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA

    Pamela J. Kling

  5. Department of Pathology, University of Utah Health, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Diane M. Ward

  6. Women and Newborns Research, Intermountain Healthcare, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Robert D. Christensen

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  1. Timothy M. Bahr
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  2. Ashley E. Benson
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Correspondence to Timothy M. Bahr.

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Bahr, T.M., Benson, A.E., Kling, P.J. et al. Maternal obesity and impaired offspring neurodevelopment: could fetal iron deficiency be a pathogenic link?. J Perinatol 41, 1199–1200 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-021-00951-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-021-00951-9

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