Evaluation of total plasma homocysteine in Indian newborns using heel-prick samples.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To estimate total plasma homocysteine levels in Indian newborns by modifying the existing SBD-F based High performance liquid chromotography (HPLC) method in order to enable analysis in newborn heel-prick samples and assess the prevalence of hyperhomocysteinemia in Indian newborns who are exclusively breast-fed.

METHODS:

Reverse-phase HPLC with fluorescence detection for plasma homocysteine estimation and statistical analysis using student t-test.

RESULTS:

SBD-F based HPLC method was modified and Bland and Altman analysis was carried out to assess agreement between original and modified methods. The correlation co-efficient was 0.994. The limits of agreement (-5.9, 6.3) were small enough to apply new method in place of the old for heel-prick sample analysis. Total plasma homocysteine analysis was carried out on heel-prick samples of 607 randomly selected newborns (331 males and 276 females). The mean plasma homocysteine estimated by this method in Indian newborns was 6.99 (95% CI: 6.48-7.49) with no appreciable gender effect (P=0.74). Elevated homocysteine levels were observed in 31 males and 21 females.

CONCLUSIONS:

Modified HPLC method is validated and can be used for homocysteine analysis on newborn heel-prick samples. Using this method, the prevalence of hyperhomocysteinemia in Indian newborns is 8.6%.

• Authors: A Radha Rama Devi, S M Naushad, Krishna C Prasad
• Journal: Indian journal of pediatrics (Indian J Pediatr) Vol. 73 Issue 6 Pg. 503-8 (Jun 2006) ISSN: 0973-7693 [Electronic] India
• PMID: 16816512 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Homocysteine

Topics

• Breast Feeding
• Chromatography, Liquid
• Female
• Homocysteine (blood)
• Humans
• Hyperhomocysteinemia (epidemiology)
• India (epidemiology)
• Infant, Newborn
• Male