A study of zinc level in cord blood of neonates and its relationship with antropometric measurements in the neonates: a descriptive cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: During pregnancy, fast growth and cell differentiation takes place in both mother and foetus. Maternal nutritional factors play an important role in the growth of the neonate. Among the micronutrient zinc is an important micronutrient whose deficiency is associated with poor pregnancy outcomes. The objective the current study was to evaluate the relationship of serum zinc concentration of the maternal blood and the neonatal cord blood with that of the infant’s anthropometric measurements.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was performed under the Department of Neonatology, Saveetha medical college. Duration of the study was from April 2017 to June 2018. The study included 82 singleton mother baby dyads born in Saveetha medical college. Anthropometric measurements such as birth weight, head circumference, neonate length apart from other clinical features of both the mother and neonates were recorded for statistical analysis. Serum zinc levels were estimated using 2-(5-bromo-2-pyridylazo)-5-(N-Propyl-N-sulfopropylamino)-phenol (5-Br-PAPS) protocol.Results: The mean maternal age of the study population is 25.3±2.3 years. Majority of the mother had natural mode of delivery (57%). The mean cord serum zinc level was found to be 94.0±1.6microgram /dl and the mother’s serum zinc level was 93.8±30.7microgram /dl (range from 49 to 171microgram /dl) which was not found to be statistically significant. Serum zinc levels of the cord was compared with the child anthropometrics and mother’s serum zinc levels to assess for the significance, but there was no correlation observed between the umbilical cord, and the birth weight (r=0.03), length of the child (r=-0.02), head circumference (r=-0.07) and mothers serum zinc levels (r=-0.002).Conclusions: According to our results authors were unable to establish a relationship between Neonates growth parameters and zinc levels in neonates cord blood and zinc levels in the mother. Further studies with a larger sample size and prospective design would establish a causal relationship between zinc and growth parameters in the neonate.