Assessment of the Vitamin B12 Status of Pregnant Women in Nigeria Using Plasma Holotranscobalamin

Table 2

Summary of the biochemical analyses for pregnant women attending an antenatal clinic in Jos, Nigeria, for the first time in their current pregnancy.

	Total		Trimester
		1	2	3
	(𝑛=143)	(𝑛=30)	(𝑛=88)	(𝑛=25)
	Mean ± SD
Hemoglobin (g/L)	108 ± 13	114 ± 11^a	107 ± 13	106 ± 14
Hematocrit (%)	37 ± 4	39 ± 4^b	36 ± 4	36 ± 4
Vitamin B12 (pmol/L)	199 (111–738)*	346 (111–738)^c	197 (111–738)	164 (111–738)
Holotranscobalamin (pmol/L)	53 ± 28	52 (14–123)	52 (15–128)	45 (13–128)
Serum folate (nmol/L)	20 ± 12	27 ± 12^e	19 ± 12	14 ± 5
Red blood cell folate (nmol/L)	240 ± 110	271 ± 132	241 ± 106	199 ± 86
Homocysteine (μmol/L)	7.7 ± 2.4	7.7 ± 2.1	7.7 ± 2.4	7.6 ± 2.9
Ferritin (ng/mL)	27.5 (4.8–285)	55.6 (12–218)^d	24.4 (4.8–285)	17.6 (6.8–160)

* Median (minimum-maximum); trimester 1 different from trimesters 2 and 3, ^a𝑃=0.016, ^b𝑃≤0.001, ^c 𝑃=0.015, ^d𝑃<0.001; ^esignificant difference between all trimesters, 𝑃≤0.001.