Vitamin E concentrations in term and preterm newborns and their clinical course

Vitamin E deficiency in premature infants has been described as being associated with low hemoglobin levels in the 2nd month of life. Recently, low vitamin E concentrations were suspected as being associated with sudden death in infancy. As vitamin E is absorbed incompletely from the premature's intestine, vitamin E levels in the serum were determined in 80 prematures on the 10th day of life. The result was correlated to the clinical course of the infants and to the hemoglobin levels up to the 30th day. Low concentrations of vitamin E and lower hemoglobin levels were found more frequently in new borns, whose clinical course was characterized by additional complications and who received parenteral nutrition. A group of uncomplicated newborns showed no correlation of vitamin E to hemoglobin values. Thus early diagnosis of vitamin E-dependent anemia is not possible and the usefulness of vitamin E should be investigated only in newborns with an uneventful clinical course.