Influential factors of serum prealbumin and albumin level in premature infants

    YE Piao1, PI Guangª²Huan2, LIU Jingª²Tao1

    1Department of Pediatrics, Sichuan Provincial Women & Children Hospital, Chengdu 610031, China, 2Department of Pediatrics, Teaching Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong 637000, China

    ¡¾Abstracts¡¿ AIM: To explore the effects of different gestational ages, different low birth weight and the application of cortical hormone before birth on the change of prealbumin, albumin and total protein. METHODS: Specimen of prealbumin, albumin and total protein were taken from 103 premature infants within 24 h after birth, and 75 full term infants were included as control. RESULTS: The levels of serum prealbumin (90.0¡À10.2) mg/L, albumin (30.7¡À2.9) g/L and the total protein (51.2¡À8.9) g/L of the premature infants were lower in premature infants than those in full term infants. The levels of prealbumin and albumin of the infants with the low birth weights were higher than those in the infants with the extremely low birth weights [(110.0¡À15.9) mg/L vs (35.2¡À2.4) g/L, P<0.01], while the level of the total protein of the infants with different weight was not statistically different (P>0.05). The administration of Dexamethesone (DX) 48ª²plus hours before birth notably raised the level of prealbumin in the premature infants [(131.0¡À20.2) mg/L, P<0.01], but it did not markedly change the levels of albumin and the total protein (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: The amount of serum prealbumin of the premature infants is a reliable index in assessing the nutritive condition and the nutritive support. The influential factors such as the different gestational age, birth weight and the administration of cortical hormone must be taken into the consideration during the evaluation. ......