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Calcium Intake and tThe Risk of Developing Preeclampsia Among Pregnant Women Receiving Antenatal Care at the Jos University Teaching Hospital
Corresponding Author(s) : C. Obikili
Journal of Health Sciences and Practice,
Vol. 1 No. 2 (2023): Journal of Health Sciences and Practice (JHSP)
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Background: Pre-eclampsia is a significant cause of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality and steps have been made towards its prevention. In 2013 the WHO came up with a recommendation that calcium supplementation for prevention of pre-eclampsia be added as part of the antenatal care in populations with low calcium intake. However, calcium intake in our population is not known.
Method: It was a hospital based cross sectional descriptive study. In this study 206 women were recruited by convenience sampling technique, 24-hour dietary recall was taken from them after which dietary calcium was calculated using the West African food composition table. Their serum calcium levels were derived from samples taken in the antecubital vein without tourniquet. They were then followed up to determine the maternal and neonatal outcomes. Analysis was done using SPSS software version 20 and results calculated.
Results: The mean calcium intake for the studied population was 529.6 +/- 312.08 mg/day, the mean serum calcium was 2.185 +/- 0.212 mmol/L. The incidence of pregnancy induced hypertension was 15.5% and the incidence of Pre-eclampsia was 2.8%. There was no statistically significant relationship between Calcium intake and Serum Calcium. Women who developed PIH and preeclampsia had an average lower calcium intake than those who had normotensive pregnancies but this relationship was not statistically significant. There was no noted relationship between calcium intake, serum calcium and neonatal outcome.
Conclusion: The oral calcium intake of women in our environment is lower than the recommended threshold of 900mg, thus, calcium supplementation should be given routinely as part of our ante-natal care in this environment. There appears to be a relationship between calcium intake and risk of pre-eclampsia in our environment, but no relationship between each of them and neonatal outcomes, though larger studies might be needed to confirm this assertion.
Key Words: Pre-eclampsia, Calcium intake, Calcium supplementation, Serum Calcium, Prevention.