Red blood cell zinc protoporphyrin measurement for assessment of peripartum iron deficiency.

OBJECTIVE

To study the effectiveness of the rapid red blood cell zinc protorphyrin (RBC-ZPP) test for the detection of women with iron-deficiency anemia in the peripartum period.

DESIGN

Blood was drawn prospectively from 150 healthy parturient women upon admission to the labor and delivery room and 72 hours after delivery. Concentration of RBC-ZPP was measured and correlated with hemoglobin level (p = 0.001), mean corpuscular volume (p = 0.002), hematocrit (p = 0.0001), platelet count (p = 0.002), and serum iron (p = 0.0001), serum ferritin (p = 0.0001) and serum transferrin (p = 0.0001) concentrations.

RESULTS

RBC-ZPP concentration showed a significant increase from pre-delivery to 72 hours post-delivery. This change correlated significantly with the changes in all the other parameters studied.

CONCLUSION

The RBC-ZPP test is a reliable, rapid, easy-to-perform, and inexpensive method of screening low-risk women, after uneventful vaginal delivery, for iron deficiency.