Kekem District Hospital, Kekem, West Region, Cameroon.
Department of Biochemistry, University of Dschang, Dschang, West Region, Cameroon.
PLoS One. 2019 Nov 7;14(11):e0224855. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0224855. eCollection 2019.
Women from low and middle income countries are generally more likely to have sub-optimal calcium intake. The objective of this study was to assess serum calcium disorders and correlates in late pregnancy.
We conducted from December 2018 to April 2019, a cross-sectional hospital-based study targeting pregnant women in late pregnancy in the Nkongsamba Regional Hospital. Data were collected by measurement of parameters (weight, height, blood pressure and foetal birthweight), administration of a semi-structured questionnaire and analysis of blood samples collected from each participant. Absorption spectrophotometry was used to measure serum calcium and albumin concentrations and corrected serum calcium calculated from the Payne's equation. With a statistical significant threshold set at p-value = 0.05, the odds ratio was used as a measure of the strength of association between hypocalcaemia and maternofoetal variables.
We enrolled a total of 354 consenting participants with a mean age of 27.41±5.84 years. The prevalence of hypocalcaemia in late pregnancy was 58.76 [53.42-63.90]%. The rate of calcium supplementation in pregnancy was 57.63[52.28-62.80]% with a mean duration of supplementation of 3.69±1.47 months. When controlled for marital status, age, level of education, and gestational age at delivery, pregnant women with systolic blood pressures below 130 mmHg were significantly less likely to have hypocalcaemia than their counterparts with higher systolic blood pressures (Adjusted Odds Ratio = 0.41[0.18-0.89], p-value = 0.020). No statistically significant associations were found between diastolic blood pressure, body mass index, foetal birth weight and hypocalcaemia.
Hypocalcaemia in late pregnancy is highly prevalent (59%) among women accessing reproductive services at the Nkongsamba Regional Hospital. There is also a wide gap in calcium supplementation compared to World Health Organization recommendations. Hypocalcaemia is significantly associated to higher systolic blood pressure in pregnancy. Systematic calcium supplementation and consumption of high calcium containing locally available meals should be encouraged.
来自中低收入国家的女性通常钙摄入量不足。本研究的目的是评估妊娠晚期血清钙紊乱及其相关因素。
我们于 2018 年 12 月至 2019 年 4 月在 Nkongsamba 地区医院进行了一项基于医院的横断面研究，以调查妊娠晚期孕妇。通过测量参数（体重、身高、血压和胎儿出生体重）、管理半结构式问卷和分析从每位参与者采集的血样来收集数据。采用吸收分光光度法测量血清钙和白蛋白浓度，并根据 Payne 方程计算校正后的血清钙。统计显著阈值设为 p 值=0.05，用优势比来衡量低钙血症与母婴变量之间的关联强度。
我们共纳入了 354 名同意参加的参与者，平均年龄为 27.41±5.84 岁。妊娠晚期低钙血症的患病率为 58.76 [53.42-63.90]%。妊娠期间补钙的比例为 57.63[52.28-62.80]%，平均补钙时间为 3.69±1.47 个月。在校正了婚姻状况、年龄、教育程度和分娩时的孕龄后，收缩压低于 130mmHg 的孕妇发生低钙血症的可能性显著低于收缩压较高的孕妇（调整后的优势比=0.41[0.18-0.89]，p 值=0.020）。舒张压、体重指数、胎儿出生体重与低钙血症之间未见统计学显著关联。
在 Nkongsamba 地区医院接受生殖服务的女性中，妊娠晚期低钙血症的患病率很高（59%）。与世界卫生组织的建议相比，钙补充也存在很大差距。低钙血症与妊娠时的收缩压显著相关。应鼓励系统补钙和食用富含钙的当地食物。
