Vitamin A levels in the serum of neonates and pregnant womenin the third trimester：a correlation study

Abstract:

Objective：To evaluate comprehensively the vitamin A（VA） status of neonates at birth and discuss the correlation with maternal VA status. Methods：From October to November 2016 in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University，blood from healthy mothers before delivery and umbilical cord blood samples from healthy neonates were collected and measured for serum retinol，retinyl esters（retinyl acetate and retinyl palmitate） and β-carotene levels by high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method（HPLC-MS/MS）. The single factor variance and multiple regression model were applied to analyze the correlation between neonatal umbilical and maternal serum VA levels. Results：Totally 82 mothers and their neonates were in－cluded. Retinol，retinyl palmitate and β-carotene concentration of umbilical cord blood serum were respectively（0.490±0.129），（0.016±0.016） and （0.038±0.030） μmol/L，significantly lower than those of （0.988±0.268），（0.319±0.314） and （2.196±2.005） μmol/L in maternal serum（all P=0.000）；among all groups of different maternal VA status（VA sufficient，insufficient and de－ficient groups），there were significant differences in retinol，retinyl palmitate and β-carotene level of umbilical cord blood serum（P=0.017，0.044 and 0.030，respectively）. And they were all significantly higher in VA sufficient group than in VA deficient group（all P<0.05）. There was no statistic difference between the other groups（P>0.05）. Maternal retinol level was the independent influence factor affecting both retinol and β-carotene level of umbilical cord serum（regression coefficient b=0.149，0.035，respectively；95%CI=0.048 to 0.251，0.011 to 0.059，respectively）. Conclusion：The overall neonatal VA level is lower than that of mother，and both neonatal retinol and β-carotene concentration are associated with maternal retinol concentration.