Cord Blood Lipid Profile of Term and Preterm Newborns in a Tertiary Hospital in South East Nigeria: Relationship with Gestational Age and Birth Weight

ABSTRACT

Background: Early-onset atherosclerosis is a marker of future cardiovascular diseases. However, indicators of early dyslipidemia for primary prevention are generally lacking in sub-Saharan Africa. This study aimed at describing the cord blood lipid profile among apparently healthy newborns in a tertiary hospital in Southeast Nigeria, and its relationship with gestational age and birth weight.Methods: Cross-sectional study of 167 consecutively recruited apparently well newborns in a tertiary hospital whose cord blood lipid profile parameters (total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL ­C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL ­C) and very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL ­C)) were assessed using an autoanalyzer (BiOLis 24i). Lipid variables were presented with descriptive statistics whereas their relationship with gestational age and birth weight was highlighted using Spearman's rank correlation analysis. Dunnett's T3 Post Hoc analysis was used for pairwise comparisons.Results: The 167 newborns recruited included 15 (9%) moderate preterm, 46 (27.5%) late preterm and 106 (63.5%) term babies of which 79 (47.3%) were males and 88 (52.7%) were females. The number of recruited SGA, AGA and LGA were respectively 13 (7.8%), 142 (85%), 12 (7.2%). Mode of delivery was majorly vaginal delivery (69.5%) while the rest (30.5%) was by caesarean section. The median values (in mg/dL) of TC, TG, HDL ­C, LDL ­C and VLDL ­C were 60.0, 30.5, 29.0, 25.8 and 6.1 respectively, all within the normal international ranges. Triglycerides and VLDL-C had a moderate positive correlation with gestational age (rs = 0.4;p < 0.001) and were significantly higher in small-for-gestational-age newborns. Total cholesterol, HDL ­C, and LDL-C had a weak negative correlation with gestational age and birth weight (spearman rs˂-0.3). Birth weight, gestational age, and paternal age were the common predictors of lipid profile variability.Conclusion: The finding of a significant relationship between lipid variables with gestational age and birth weight underscores the need to clinically interpret these given the relationship. The relationship with paternal age is another interesting finding which needs to be replicated and the mechanism(s) elucidated.