Hematologic and Vitamin Status of African American Women and Their Relationships to Pregnancy Outcome

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-1991

Description

A prospective observational study was conducted to investigate the effects of nutrition and related factors on the outcome of pregnancy in nulliparous African American women 16-35 years of age. Blood samples from a subset of these subjects were taken during the first (1st), second (2nd) and third (3rd) trimesters of pregnancy and at delivery. Cord blood samples were also collected at delivery. Levels of selected biochemical variables including serum ferritin, vitamin B12 and folate as well as whole blood folate, and selected hematologic indices were determined and correlated with pregnancy outcome variables. During the second trimester of pregnancy, values for hematocrit and hemoglobin were less than 30% and 11 g/dL, respectively, in 16% and 30% of the participants, respectively. Serum and whole blood (WB) folate increased sequentially during pregnancy. Cord concentrations of serum folate were significantly higher than maternal concentrations at delivery (P<0.05). Serum ferritin declined significantly from 36±5.6 ng/ml in the first trimester to 17±1.5 ng/ml during the 3rd trimester (P<0.05), and returned to the 2nd trimester level (26±2.0 ng/ml) at delivery. Second trimester WB folate was positively related to birth weight (R2=0.21), while gestational age was inversely correlated with 3rd trimester vitamin B12 (R2=0.34). These data suggest that vitamin B12 and folate play an important role in the outcome of pregnancy in this population.

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