Several hematologic values (hemoglobin, hematocrit, reticulocyte count, mean concentration of hemoglobin, mean corpuscular concentration) and serum concentration of iron and ferritin were obtained from umbilical cord blood of 32 term newborn babies and 30 preterm newborn babies born at Hospital Albert Einstein. All babies were healthy, with no clinical problems at delivery or in the few hours after birth. Blood was obtained by needle puncture on umbilical vein at least 5 minutes after the placenta was detached from endometrium, and sent to Central Laboratory to be analised. The hematologic values were more elevated in the group of term babies in comparison with the group of preterm (p<0,05). Serum concentrations of iron and ferritin were more elevated in the group of term babies in comparison with the group of preterm babies (p<0,05). There was no difference statistically significant in the reticulocyte count of both groups. Adjusting a model of multiple logistic regression, the hematocrit had a positive predictive value for preterm babies, and an inversely proportional relationship between hematocrit values and gestacional age was observed.
Ferritin; Iron; Umbilical cord; Infant newborn; Neonatology
