1. Zinc status and cognitive function of pregnant women in Southern Ethiopia
- Author
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Barbara J. Stoecker, Isabel Arbide, Laura Hubbs-Tait, Yewelsew Abebe, Akilu Teshome, Nancy F. Krebs, Rosalind S. Gibson, Tay Kennedy, Jamie E Westcott, and K M Hambidge
- Subjects
Adult ,Rural Population ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Cross-sectional study ,Nutritional Status ,Medicine (miscellaneous) ,chemistry.chemical_element ,Zinc ,Article ,Cognition ,Raven's Progressive Matrices ,Pregnancy ,Internal medicine ,medicine ,Humans ,Nutrition and Dietetics ,Obstetrics ,business.industry ,Iron Deficiencies ,medicine.disease ,Diet ,Trace Elements ,Pregnancy Complications ,Cross-Sectional Studies ,Endocrinology ,chemistry ,Blood chemistry ,Zinc deficiency ,Educational Status ,Regression Analysis ,Gestation ,Female ,Ethiopia ,business ,Body mass index ,Maternal Age - Abstract
The relation between zinc status and cognitive function was examined in a cross-sectional study in the Sidama area of Southern Ethiopia. Pregnant women >24 weeks of gestation from three adjacent rural villages volunteered to participate. Mean (s.d.) plasma zinc of 99 women was 6.97 (1.07) μmol/l (below the cutoff of 7.6 μmol/l indicative of zinc deficiency at this stage of gestation). The Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM) test was administered individually. Scores for the Raven’s scale A, which is the simplest scale, ranged from 4 to 10 of a possible 12. Women with plasma zinc 7.6 μmol/l. Plasma zinc and maternal age and education predicted 17% of the variation in Raven’s CPM scale A scores. We conclude that zinc deficiency is a major factor affecting cognition in these pregnant women.
- Published
- 2009
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