Prolactin and its correlation with gestational age and birth weight in a new-born

Abstract

Prolactin is analogous in certain respects to growth hormone and its role in growth and development of the fetus in utero is steadily emerging. It can serve as a predictor of fetal maturity in utero. Our objective was to study the correlation between Serum Cord Prolactin levels with birth weight and gestational age in antenatal cases. It was a prospective study enrolling 280 eligible pregnant women presenting to the labour room in a tertiary hospital. Umbilical cord serum prolactin was assayed by Chemiluminescent Micro particle Immunoassay and was correlated with gestational age and birth weight of the neonate. 76.1% were term neonates. 49.3% were born to mothers with high risk pregnancies. Mean serum prolactin was higher in neonates of <28 weeks (686 ng/ml) but was almost similar from 28 weeks to term with p value of 0.537. Mean serum prolactin was 493.70 ng/ml for low birth weight neonates and p value was 0.754. There was no statistically significant correlation between prolactin with birth weight and gestational age in our study but can open an arena for research in the future.