Evaluation of total plasma homocysteine in Indian newborns using heel-prick samples.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate total plasma homocysteine levels in Indian newborns by modifying the existing SBD-F based High performance liquid chromotography (HPLC) method in order to enable analysis in newborn heel-prick samples and assess the prevalence of hyperhomocysteinemia in Indian newborns who are exclusively breast-fed.


METHODS
Reverse-phase HPLC with fluorescence detection for plasma homocysteine estimation and statistical analysis using student t-test.


RESULTS
SBD-F based HPLC method was modified and Bland and Altman analysis was carried out to assess agreement between original and modified methods. The correlation co-efficient was 0.994. The limits of agreement (-5.9, 6.3) were small enough to apply new method in place of the old for heel-prick sample analysis. Total plasma homocysteine analysis was carried out on heel-prick samples of 607 randomly selected newborns (331 males and 276 females). The mean plasma homocysteine estimated by this method in Indian newborns was 6.99 (95% CI: 6.48-7.49) with no appreciable gender effect (P=0.74). Elevated homocysteine levels were observed in 31 males and 21 females.


CONCLUSIONS
Modified HPLC method is validated and can be used for homocysteine analysis on newborn heel-prick samples. Using this method, the prevalence of hyperhomocysteinemia in Indian newborns is 8.6%.
Radha Rama Devi
A
A
Diagnostic Division, Center for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad, India.
Naushad
S M
SM
Prasad
Krishna C
KC
D001942:Breast Feeding; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D005260:Female; D006710:Homocysteine / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D020138:Hyperhomocysteinemia / Q000453:epidemiology; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male
D006710:Homocysteine