Fetal glycated albumin levels in offspring of obese women.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between maternal obesity and fetal glycated albumin (GA) levels among pregnant women. METHODS: A comparative, cross-sectional study of 59 consenting, normoglycemic, pregnant women, who met the criteria for maternal obesity, attending the antenatal clinic of the University College Hospital, Nigeria, from June 2019 to December 2019. They were recruited at 36 weeks of gestation, followed up until delivery, and compared with 58 nonobese, normoglycemic pregnant controls. At delivery, blood samples were taken from the mothers and from the umbilical cords of their newborns for serum GA assay. Maternal and newborn variables were recorded, and comparisons were made using χ2 tests, independent t tests, odds ratios, analysis of variance, and Pearson correlates. Statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. RESULTS: The odds of elevated newborn GA were 3.21 times higher in obese women compared with nonobese women (P = 0.005) and 5-min APGAR scores were higher in the newborns of nonobese women (P = 0.039). There was a significant correlation between maternal and neonatal GA for all participants (r = 0.346, P = 0.000). CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that maternal obesity is associated with elevated fetal GA and low APGAR scores at 5 min in normoglycemic women.

Social, obstetric and environmental determinants of low Apgar score among infants born in four selected hospitals in Ibadan, Nigeria.

Little information exists about socio-economic, environmental or occupational determinants of low Apgar scores among Nigerian neonates. Mothers in lying-in wards of four hospitals in Ibadan were interviewed on socio-demographic characteristics, obstetric history and work activities during index pregnancy. Apgar scores and clinical data were extracted from case notes. Of the 1349 respondents, 20% had Apgar score <7 at one minute, 4% at five minutes. Lower education, cooking with kerosene, physical exertion at work, nulliparity, hypertension in pregnancy, prolonged rupture of membranes, breech presentation and caesarean section were predictors for low Apgar scores at one minute; nulliparity, male infant and breech presentation at five minutes. Occupations with lower socio-economic status or those requiring physical exertion; tailoring, catering and hairdressing recorded higher rates of low Apgar scores at one minute (p = .08). Physical exertion at work and cooking with kerosene may be predictive of low Apgar scores and require further study.