Serum calcium and blood loss at delivery

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Title Serum calcium and blood loss at delivery
Publication Type thesis
School or College College of Nursing
Department Nursing
Author Nickerson, Carolyn Janice Beck
Date 1979-06
Description The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between predelivery serum calcium values and blood loss at delivery as reflected by changed in selected hematologic values from predelivery to second postpartum day. Twenty-nine women who delivered at the Shiprock Indian Health Service Hospital and 25 women who delivered at Hill Air Force Base Hospital were studied. Each subject had a total serum calcium level determined prior to delivery. Hematocrit, hemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, and mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration were measured for each subject prior to delivery and again on the second postpartum day. Changes in these hematologic values were interpreted as indices of blood loss at delivery. Pearson product-moment correlations were calculated to test the hypothesized relationship between serum calcium and changes in the hematologic values. No statistically significant correlations were observed. Previously reported association of blood loss with maternal age, parity, length or labor, and infant weight are supported by this study. Although norms do no exist for drops in hematocrit and hemoglobin per volume of blood loss for parturient women, the magnitude and frequency of drops in these values observed in this study speaks to the excessive loss of blood by women who participated in the study. Contrary to the expectation of the investigator, the Navajo women form Shiprock did not have serum calcium levels lower than the primarily Caucasian sample for Hill; neither did the Navajo subjects lose more blood at delivery than the subject from Hill. Initially, it was assumed that the Navajo tendency to lower serum calcium levels and greater blood loss at delivery were related to racial differences. Observation of the same tendencies among the subjects from Hill suggest that these trends to lower serum calcium and excessive blood loss at delivery are a function of the interaction of other variables, perhaps socioeconomic or nutritional status.
Type Text
Publisher University of Utah
Subject Childbirth; Anemia; Calcium in the body
Subject MESH Labor, Obstetric; Indians, North American; Labor Presentation
Dissertation Institution University of Utah
Dissertation Name MS
Language eng
Relation is Version of Digital reproduction of "Serum calcium and blood loss at delivery." Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library.
Rights Management © Carolyn Janice Beck Nickerson.
Format application/pdf
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 733,152 bytes
Identifier undthes,4244
Source Original: University of Utah Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library (no longer available)
Master File Extent 733,214 bytes
ARK ark:/87278/s60g3mx1
Setname ir_etd
ID 190753
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s60g3mx1
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