Zinc Deficiency among Pregnant Women at a Tertiary Hospital in Katsina

Abstract

Background: Zinc is an essential micronutrient with many essential functions in the body. Its deficiency in pregnancy has been linked to several adverse pregnancy outcomes. Pregnant women in our environment are at risk of zinc deficiency due to our local diets which contain substances that impair zinc absorption as well as routine iron supplementation which has also been shown to impair zinc absorption.

Aim: To determine the prevalence of zinc deficiency and its associated factors in our environment.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 305 pregnant women who presented for booking at the ante-natal clinic. A questionnaire was administered to collect relevant information including their socio-demographic data and risk factors for zinc deficiency. Serum zinc was estimated in all patients using a colorimetric technique. The results were entered into SPSS version 20.0 and analyzed. A p-value of <0.05 was considered significant.

Results: The prevalence of zinc deficiency was found to be 31.1%. It was highest among those aged 10-19 years with a prevalence of 44.4%. There was no significant association found between zinc deficiency and age (p = 0.422), socioeconomic class (p = 0.989), parity (p = 0.728), inter-pregnancy interval (p = 0.725), as well as the features studied which included loss of appetite (p = 0.576), vomiting (p = 0.289), diarrhoea (p = 0.078), fever (p = 0.876), pallor (p = 0.591) and maternal weight (p = 0.161). There was no correlation found between zinc deficiency and age (r = -0.078, p = 0.174), inter-pregnancy interval (ρ = 0.002, p = 0.975), and maternal weight (r = 0.078, p = 0.173).

Conclusion: Zinc deficiency in pregnancy is highly prevalent in our environment occurring in about one in every 3 women. It is highest among pregnant teenagers where it occurs in almost one out of every two. No significant association was found between the risk factors studied, indicating that all pregnant women are likely at risk of zinc deficiency.

As this study did not assess dietary intake, future studies in our environment can be done to assess dietary intake of zinc as well as determine the pregnancy outcomes of women with zinc deficiency in pregnancy.