serum levels of iron, total iron-binding capacity and vitamin-a in maternal and cord blood.

Studies have shown that vitamin-A supplementation has beneficial effect on iron deficiency anaemia. The adequacy or otherwise of this supplementation and the effect this has on iron and vitamin-A status in maternal and cord blood was therefore the focus of this study. Fifty-three (53) maternal and cord blood samples were used with twenty age-matched control samples from non-pregnant women Informed consent was given by all the subjects and ethical clearance was obtained from the ethics committee of the institution before the commencement of the study. Haemoglobin (Hb) level, vitamin A, total iron binding capacity and serum iron were all estimated using standard operative procedures. The result showed a significantly higher level of iron and vitamin A(P and lt;0.05) for the control over the test and significantly lower level of total iron-binding capacity (TIBC) (P and lt;0.05). Cord blood vitamin-A and iron were significantly elevated over the maternal blood while the TIBC were lower (P and lt;0.05). Inspite of this significant difference, there was a positive correlation between the TIBC, serum iron and vitamin-A levels of maternal and cord blood samples. Both vitamin-A and serum iron of the group with low haemoglobin were significantly lower when compared with the rest of the test groups. Increased vitamin-A and iron supplementation may therefore be required for pregnant women with low haemoglobin to prevent infant and maternal mortality in developing countries.