Intrauterine Growth and the Vitamin E Status of Full-Term and Preterm Newborns

Abstract

Objective: To determine the concentration of alpha-tocopherol in umbilical cord serum of full-term and preterm newborns, in order to assess the nutritional status of both groups in relation to the vitamin and its possible correlation with intrauterine growth.Methods: A cross-sectional observational study conducted with 140 newborns, of which 64 were preterm and 76 were full-term. They did not have any malformations, they came from healthy mothers, who were nonsmokers, and delivered a single baby. Intrauterine growth was evaluated by weight-to-gestational age at birth, using Intergrowth-21st. Thealpha-tocopherol levels of umbilical cord serum were analyzed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography.Results: The mean concentration of alpha-tocopherol in umbilical cord serum for preterm and full-term infants was 263.3±129.5 and 247.0±147.6 µg/dL (p=0.494). In the preterm group, 23% were small for gestational age, whereas in the full-term group, this percentage was only 7% (p=0.017). Low levels of vitamin E were found in 95.3% of preterm infants and 92.1% of full-term infants. There was no correlation between alpha-tocopherol levels and weight to gestational age Z score (p=0.951).Conclusions: No association was found between alpha-tocopherol levels and weight to gestational age at birth. Intrauterine growth restriction was more frequent in preterm infants and most infants had low levels of vitamin E at the time of delivery.

The association between maternal fat-soluble vitamin concentrations during pregnancy and infant birth weight in China

“…However, we speculate the insignificance was due to the low prevalence of LBW and relatively low ratio of vitamin A deficiency, insufficiency and excess in our study. In terms of the association between vitamin E and LBW, our result was similar to a recent research in Brazil, which detected no association between vitamin E concentrations of umbilical cord serum and weight to gestational age at birth (40) . As for vitamin D, our finding was similar to a mother-offspring cohort in Singapore that maternal vitamin D status in pregnancy did not influence infant birth outcomes such as SGA (36) .…”

Neonatal diseases and oxidative stress in premature infants: an integrative review

“…The studies that reported a positive association between oxidative stress and/or development of diseases related to prematurity were 72.2% (n = 13); 27.7% (n = 5) showed no significant association. Positive correlations were found in IUGR; 8 , 13 , 25 NEC; 10 , 20 morbidity and mortality; 5 , 26 BPD, IVH; 10 FIRS; 21 early-onset neonatal sepsis; 22 RDS 12 and ROP. 27 CLD, 19 DNA damage, 4 IVH, 24 cardiac functions, 23 and endothelial dysfunction 9 were not associated with oxidative stress levels in included studies.…”

“…There were also no differences regarding intubation, the incidence of grade III IVH, or death before hospital discharge. Silva et al, 2019 Brazil 25 Transversal 140 NB 54 PTN and 76 FT NB Cord blood Vitamin E IUGR IUGR was more frequent in PTB; most of the infants had low vitamin E levels. Stefanov et al, 2020 9 United States Prospective Pilot study 63 NB 50 PTN and 13 FT NB Cord blood and venous blood MDA Glutathione Endothelial dysfunction MDA was higher in cord blood than at 24 hours of life, regardless of GA. PTN had higher ET-1 levels in cord blood than 24 hours of life, but overall, ET-1 had no significant association with OS.…”

“…Synthesis of the articles, year of publication, type of study, sample, source of specimen, biomarkers, diseases evaluated, and the main outcomes are described in Table 1 . 3 , 4 , 5 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 12 , 13 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28

Figure 1 Flowchart of the study selection process for the integrative review on oxidative stress in premature newborns.

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Role of Vitamin E in Pregnancy

“…Since the transplacental transmission of Role of Vitamin E in Pregnancy DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97268 alpha-tocopherol is minimal, newborns are considered an at-risk category for vitamin E deficiency. Low serum levels of alpha-tocopherol are associated with the development of edemas, thrombocytosis, and hemolytic anemia, which can result in cardiomyopathy and the possible consequence of this vitamin deficiency is its restriction on the intrauterine growth of fetuses [102].…”