Vitamin A status of the newborn in relation to gestational age, body weight, and maternal nutritional status.

Studies were made of the vitamin A status of newborn as judged by cord serum vitamin A in relation to gestational age, birth weight, and maternal vitamin A status in 130 + 79 mother-infant pairs belonging to low and high income groups in urban Baroda. The mean values for maternal serum vitamin A (microgram/dl, mean +/- SE) in the two groups were 21.8 +/- 0.59 (n = 130) and 29.3 +/- 0.80 (n = 79), respectively. The corresponding values for cord serum vitamin A were 13.8 +/- 0.40 and 19.6 +/- 0.64 for full-term infants and 7.5 +/- 0.44 and 12.9 +/- 0.80 for premature infants. Even for comparable levels of maternal serum vitamin A, differences were found between income groups regarding birth weight and cord serum vitamin A. Mothers of premature infants had lower levels of serum vitamin A than those of full-term infants suggesting maternal vitamin A status to be one of the correlates of prematurity. Significant correlations were found between cord serum vitamin A, maternal serum vitamin A, gestational age, and growth status. These studies suggest that a poor vitamin A status is one of the features associated with a higher prevalence of prematurity and intrauterine growth retardation found in poorly nourished populations. These findings stress the importance of satisfactory vitamin A supplies to pregnant and nursing mothers to prevent vitamin A deficiency and growth retardation in the progeny.