Evaluation of full blood count, serum copper and selenium level among pregnant women attending Specialist Hospital Sokoto, Nigeria.

Pregnancy is a very delicate condition which makes women prone to so many pathological conditions. It has also been established that a major cause of pathology in pregnancy is lack of balanced diet. The aim of this study was to evaluate the full blood count, copper and selenium levels of pregnant women. A total of 90 women participated in the study including 60 pregnant (subjects) and 30 age-matched non-pregnant women (controls). Subjects were recruited from Antenatal Clinic of Specialist Hospital Sokoto. A structured interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to obtain some socio-demographic characteristics and blood samples were collected and examined for some haematological parameters (HCT, HGB, WBC, RBC and platelet count) using the auto-haematology analyzer (Mythic 22, CT, 2008, Orphee, Switzerland). Copper levels were assayed by Dibrom PAESA method (Centronic, Germany) while atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AA 6300 Model, Shimadzu, Japan) was used to measure selenium. Data generated was analyzed using SPSS 25.0 statistical package. A p-value ≤ 0.05 was considered significant in all statistical comparisons. The mean and standard deviation of the parameters of the pregnant subjects were compared with those of the non-pregnant controls. There was a statistically significant decrease in the HCT, HGB as well as a statistically significant increase in the WBC counts of the pregnant subjects compared with the controls. Also, there was a statistically significant increase on the copper and selenium level between the pregnant subjects compared to the non-pregnant controls. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between copper and WBC count (r=0.413 and p=0.00) and between selenium and WBC count (r=0.411 and p=0.00). There was also a statistically significant negative correlation between selenium and PLT (r=-0.449 and p=0.00). Findings of this study has shown that pregnancy is associated with a significant decrease in HCT and HGB as well as a significant increase in copper and selenium level (p<0.05). There is need to routinely monitor the full blood count, as well the serum copper and selenium levels during pregnancy. We advocate that pregnant women maintain a balanced diet, attend antennal clinics regularly and supplementation be provided for pregnant women who are deficient in these micronutrients.