Table 2

Anemia and iron status in Zimbabwean infants from birth through 6 months of age by HIV status of the mother and her infant.

Indicator

Birth

6 weeks

3 months

6 months

HIV status group

Serum ferritin, μg/L*

Nn group

199 (172,230)^a,b

131 (107,160)^a

52 (44,62)^a

15 (12,18)^a

n

108

63

64

75

Pn group

198 (181,216)^a

168 (153,185)^a

62 (56,69)^a

17 (15,19)^a

n

248

205

215

235

Pp group

251 (211,300)^b

320 (255,402)^b

141 (104,191)^b

36 (24,54)^b

n

76

70

52

40

P-value^†

0.036

<0.0001

<0.0001

<0.0001

Erythropoietin, U/L

Nn group

----------

10.2 (8.5,12.2)^a

12.2 (10.5,14.0)^a

16.2 (13.7,19.0)^a

n

62

60

74

Pn group

9.3 (8.4,10.2)^a

11.6 (10.7,12.5)^a

14.4 (13.0,15.8)^a

n

201

215

231

Pp group

16.3 (13.4,19.9)^b

23.4 (17.1,32.1)^b

26.1 (20.0,34.0)^b

n

69

53

38

P-value

<0.0001

<0.0001

<0.0001

Transferrin receptor, mg/L

Nn group

----------

3.5 (3.2,3.8)^a

6.2 (5.9,6.6)^a

6.8 (6.3,7.3)

n

63

64

75

Pn group

4.1 (4.0,4.3)^b

6.7 (6.4,7.0)^a

7.2 (6.9,7.6)

n

205

216

235

Pp group

4.7 (4.3,5.2)^c

8.2 (7.2,9.3)^b

8.0 (7.0,9.1)

n

71

53

40

P-value

<0.0001

0.0001

0.065

Abbreviations: Nn, mother HIV negative, baby HIV negative; Pn, mother HIV positive, baby HIV negative at 6 months; Pp, mother HIV positive, baby HIV positive at 6 weeks.

^a,b,c Means in a cell without a common letter differ, P < 0.05, Bonferroni multiple-comparison test.

* Values are geometric mean (95% CI).

† P-values are from analysis of variance of log-transformed values.

Miller et al. BMC Infectious Diseases 2006 6:1   doi:10.1186/1471-2334-6-1