COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SERUM MAGNESIUM & ZINC LEVELS AND THEIR ASSOCIATIONS WITH PRETERM LABOUR

Abstract

Background: Preterm is dened as babies born alive before 37 weeks of pregnanc, it occurs when there is a regular contraction of uterus which results in opening of cervix after 20 weeks and before 37 weeks of gestation. preterm labour is spontaneous but it can also be due to a biochemical changes in body functions at the cellular level of trace elements such as magnesium and zinc. The main objective of this study is to nd the association of hypomagnesaemia and low zinc levels in preterm delivered women and to compare the maternal serum magnesium and zinc levels between Preterm and Term delivered mothers. Methods: A Comparative study was done in the Department of Biochemistry, Andhra Medical College, Visakhapatnam. Atotal of 126 women who were admitted to the labour room at Department of Obstetrics and gynaecology, King George Hospital, Visakhapatnam were selected for this study. All the subjects were divided into two groups as Preterm Consists of 63 women with spontaneous preterm labour delivered between 28- 37 weeks and Term Consists of 63 Women with Term labour after 37 weeks. Results: Women with Preterm labour had a signicantly low serum magnesium level with a mean serum magnesium level of 1.8 mg/dl with SD of 0.38 whereas the patients with Term labour had a mean serum magnesium level of 2.09 mg/dl with SD of 0.50 and also low zinc levels in Preterm labour with mean zinc levels of 51.28 µg/dl with SD 10.9 whereas patients with Term labour had mean serum zinc levels of 56.5 µg/dl with SD 9.7. The difference of serum magnesium and zinc levels observed between the study population and control population is independent of factors like maternal age, parity, gestational age, Blood pressure and socioeconomic status. In this study there is non signicant weak correlation was found between Demographic data and parametric data. Conclusions:Serum magnesium and zinc levels can be used as predictors for preterm labour. Spontaneous preterm delivery can be avoided by early assessment of maternal magnesium and zinc status and also by simple oral supplementation of magnesium and zinc which might provide an easy and inexpensive means to decrease the problems related to preterm labour. There is a further scope for research on serum magnesium and zinc levels based on gestational age.