ESPE Abstracts

Objective: Vaspin plays an important role in the foetal and postnatal development of children. The effect of early-onset infection in neonates on vaspin levels is not well known.

The aim of the study: 1) evaluation of serum vaspin concentrations in full-term appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA) newborns, according to their gender, birth asphyxia, type of delivery, occurrence of early-onset infections; 2) analysis of correlations between serum vaspin concentrations and neonatal anthropometric parameters.

Material and methods: The study involved 183 full-term AGA newborns aged from 3rd and 6th day of life (75 girls, 108 boys; 119 delivered vaginally and 64 by cesarean section), among them 102 with severe infection (24 septic, 78 local infection, predominantly with congenital pneumonia) and 81 healthy controls. Serum vaspin concentrations (SVC) were measured by the ELISA method (Bio Vendor Research and Diagnostic Products, Czech Republic).

Results: Infected newborns had significantly increased SVC than healthy ones. In septic newborns SVC were significantly higher than in local infected ones. No significant differences between infected male and female newborns either between children born by cesarean section and vaginally were noted. The healthy females had statistically higher SVC than the healthy male newborns. Significant negative linear correlation between SVC and the gestational age of infected babies was noted. No correlations between SVC and body length, head or chest circumferences in healthy and infected newborns either between Apgar score in 1st minute of life and SVC in infected children were found.

Conclusion: Early-onset infections, especially sepsis, increase SVC in full-term AGA newborns independently of their sex, birth asphyxia and type of delivery.