Estimation of maternal serum albumin at term to determine its correlation with birth weight of babies

Abstract

Background: Serum albumin is a vital laboratory indicator of nutrition status. Fetal weight depends upon the nutritional status of mothers. Indeed, the serum albumin status at term may help to assume the fetal weight. We do have not enough research-based data regarding this issue. The aim of this study was to estimate maternal serum albumin at term and to observe its correlation with the birth weight of babies. Methods: This cross-sectional analytical study was done at department of gynaecology and obstetrics, Sir Salimullah medical college and Mitford hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh from July 2019 to June 2020. A total of 96 mother-baby pairs were selected using purposive sampling method. Women with single full-term pregnancy based on fundal height on Naegele’s rule irrespective of any mode of delivery was included in this study. Mothers with normal albumin levels (3.6-5.2 gm/dl) were defined as group A and mothers with low albumin levels (<3.6 gm/dl) in group B. Statistical analyses of the results were obtained by using window-based computer software devised with SPSS-22. Results: In analyzing the maternal serum albumin level, we observed that majority of the participants were with normal albumin levels which were 81% and the rest 19% of patients were low albumin levels. In this study, it was observed that more than half (56.4%) of babies were male in group A and 9 (50.0%) in group B. The majority (94.9%) of babies’ birth weights were ≥2.5 kg in group A and 4 (22.0%) in group B. The difference of birth weight was statistically significant (p<0.05) between the two groups. Maternal serum albumin was significantly associated with birth weight of babies in multivariate analysis. But negatively correlated with newborn birth weight which is statistically significant. Conclusions: Maternal albumin was observed to be directly proportional to the birth weight of babies.