ABSTRACT:
The primary target of the study was to evaluate the effects of age and different stages of gestation periods (trimesters) associated with protein energy malnutrition (PEM) on some biochemical markers (such as total protein, albumin, urea, total cholesterol, creatinine and calcium) of some pregnant women in Enugu State of Nigeria. The first group were 52 pregnant women with low total protein (<52g/l), the second group were 50 pregnant women with normal total protein (>52g/l) while the third group were 50 non-pregnant, non-lactating, apparently healthy women with normal total protein (>63kg). All the subjects were resident in Enugu metropolis and aged between 20 to 40 years. The pregnant subjects were in different gestational stages of pregnancy, having different parity and attending the antenatal clinic of Parklane Specialist Hospital, Enugu. The results show that there was no significant difference between the mean serum total protein of the different age groups (p>0.05). Gestational stage of pregnancy in trimesters correlated negatively and significantly with serum total protein and serum calcium (p<0.05). Calcium negatively and significantly correlated with gestational stage of pregnancy in trimesters (r = -0.288, p<0.05) and correlated positively and significantly with serum total protein (r = + 0.681, p<0.05) and creatinine (r = + 0.0356, p<0.05).