ABSTRACT
The present cross-sectional study was undertaken with the aim of establishing norms for birth weight, crown heel length, and head circumference of the newborns in the population of Karachi. It was conducted in four public and private hospitals of Karachi, covering middle to low-income areas during a period of 2 years. There were 404 mothers and their babies included in this study that fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria of the study. Anthropometric measurements including birth weight, crown heel length, and occipitofrontal circumference [OFC] were recorded within 24 hours of birth. Maternal age, parity, gestational age, newborn gender, Apgar score, and delivery mode were also recorded. The data entry and analysis was done on Statistical Packages of Social Sciences [SPSS] version 21. The mean birth weights of the babies were found to be 3.03 +/- 0.39 kg, crown heel length were 49.2 +/- 2.4 cm, and OFC were 34 +/- 1.5 cm. A statistically significant difference was found between the gender of the babies [male=3.07 +/- 0.4 kg versus female=3.0 +/- 0.4 kg] for birth weight [p=0.02]. This study provides the mean values of anthropometric measurements of the newborns in low-income areas of Karachi
ABSTRACT
To determine any significant correlation between the routine haematological parameters of maternal blood and umbilical cord blood of their respective newborns. Cross sectional study. The study was conducted at four public and private hospitals of Karachi including Sindh Government Qatar Hospital, Sindh Government Hospital, Liaquatabad, Ziauddin University Hospital and Chinniot Maternity and Child Hospital, respectively from July 2006 to April 2008. Three milliliters venous blood was collected in EDTA containing tube for complete blood count of mothers before delivery. Five milliliters cord blood was collected from the umbilical cord of the babies immediately after delivery by clamping and cutting the babies' end of the cord. For haematological parameters a standard coultergram was done including haemoglobin, RBCs count, haematocrit [HCT], mean corpuscular volume [MCV], mean corpuscular haemoglobin [MCH], mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration [MCHC], white blood cell count, differential leukocyte count and platelet count. Pearson's correlation co-efficient was used to determine an association between the maternal and cord blood parameters. A total of 404 maternal and umbilical cord blood samples were analyzed. All the blood parameters including haemoglobin, RBCs count, HCT, MCV, MCH, white blood cell count, differential leukocyte count and platelet count were found to be high in cord blood as compared to the maternal blood, but they showed a very weak to negligible correlation. Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin Concentration [MCHC], showed a moderate correlation. Routine haematological parameters of newborns are independent of maternal routine haematological parameters