title: Thiamin status in pregnancy as determined by direct microbiological assay.
abstract: Serum and red cell thiamin levels were assayed on a group of pregnant Australian women using an automated direct microbiological assay with Lactobacillus fermenti as the test organism. Two of 103 (1.9%) had serum thiamin levels below the reference range and 2 of 67 (3.0%) were found to have red cell thiamin levels below the reference range. Although the mean serum levels between trimesters were not significantly different, there was a significant decrease in the mean red cell thiamin in the third trimester. Repeat red cell thiamin assays on some of the women a number of weeks after the initial assay revealed a decrease ranging from 17.5% to 35.4% with a mean reduction of 27.8%.
authors.affiliation: Department of Haematology, Royal Perth Hospital, Western Australia.
authors.forename: G C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Icke
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Nicol
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000737:chemistry*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008828:Microbiological Techniques; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000378:metabolism*; D013831:Thiamine / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D013831:Thiamine