Levels of blood free carnitine in preterm infants with different gestational ages and birth weights.
- Author:
Zhi-Ye QI
1
,
2
;
Jiang DUAN
;
Qiong WANG
;
Qin YAO
;
Qing-Hua ZHONG
;
Cai-Ying ZHANG
;
Kun LIANG
Author Information
1. Department of Pediatrics, First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming 650032, China. Kunliang_cn@
2. com.
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- MeSH:
Birth Weight;
Carnitine;
Female;
Gestational Age;
Humans;
Infant;
Infant, Extremely Low Birth Weight;
Infant, Newborn;
Infant, Premature;
Infant, Very Low Birth Weight;
Pregnancy
- From:
Chinese Journal of Contemporary Pediatrics
2019;21(6):562-566
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
OBJECTIVE:To examine blood concentrations of free carnitine (FC) in preterm infants with different gestational ages (GA) and birth weights (BW).
METHODS:A total of 3 368 preterm infants were enrolled as subjects. According to GA, they were divided into extremely preterm birth (EPTB) group (GA <28 weeks; n=39), very preterm birth (VPTB) group (28 ≤GA <32 weeks; n=405), moderately preterm birth (MPTB) group (32 ≤GA <34 weeks; n=507), and late preterm birth (LPTB) group (34 ≤GA <37 weeks; n=2 417); according to BW, they were divided into extremely low birth weight (ELBW) group (BW <1 000 g; n=36), very low birth weight (VLBW) group (1 000 g ≤BW <1 500 g; n=387), low birth weight (LBW) group (1 500 g ≤BW <2 500 g; n=1 873), and normal birth weight (NBW) group (2 500 g ≤ BW <4 000 g; n=1 072). Blood concentrations of FC were measured between 72 hours and 7 days after birth.
RESULTS:The EPTB and VPTB groups had significantly higher FC concentrations than the MPTB and LPTB groups (P<0.05), and the MPTB group had significantly higher FC concentrations than the LPTB group (P<0.05). The lower limit of the 95% medical reference range of FC increased with the reduction in GA. The ELBW and VLBW groups had significantly higher FC concentrations than the LBW and NBW groups (P<0.05). The LBW group had significantly higher FC concentrations than the NBW group (P<0.05). The lower limit of the 95% medical reference range of FC increased with the reduction in BW.
CONCLUSIONS:There is a significant increase in blood FC concentrations in very/extremely preterm infants and very/extremely low birth weight infants, and tend to decrease with the increases in GA and BW.
