Abstract
Cord blood electrophoresis normally reveals high levels of Hb F with smaller amounts of Hb A. At the University of Illinois Comprehensive Sickle cell Center, 9,832 consecutive cord bloods were screened since October 1983 by both Cellulose acetae and Citrate agar electrophoreses. These included infants of all ethnic groups. Of the tested infants, 21 had Hb F as the sole detectable hemoglobin. These included 14(66%) preterm infants. Cesarian section was performed for varying reasons in 6 instances. Mothers of 2 infants had gestational diabetes as per glucose tolerance tests; 4 mothers were chronic asthmatics on long-term bronchodilator therapy during pregnancy;4 were habitual drug abusers (heroin and marijuanna) even during pregnancy; three mothers had chronic hypertension, one of these was preeclamptic; and one mother had chronic renal insufficiency requiring hemodialysis 3 times per week and frequent blood transfusions. Almost half the mothers smoked ½-1 pack cigarettes/day. Multiple parameters including expected date of delivery, gestational age of infant per physical exam, placental weight, birth weight, mother's gravida and para status were studied but found to be of no significance. High fetal hemoglobin in cord blood has been well described in infants of mothers with chronic anoxemia during pregnancy as well as in infants of diabetic mothers. As 7 of the 21 mother-infant cases studied in this group had no identifiable factors, we speculate that there might be yet other determinants influencing expression of hemoglobin patterns at birth.
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Rao, S., Noronha, P. FETAL HEMOGLOBIN LEVELS IN CORD BLOOD. Pediatr Res 21 (Suppl 4), 220 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198704010-00322
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198704010-00322