Cardiac troponin I level in healthy newborn babies in Ilorin, North‑Central Nigeria

BACKGROUND: Cardiac troponins are reliable markers for the diagnosis of myocardial ischaemia. Cardiac troponin I is a valuable biomarker that has gained popularity across all ages including newborns. However, its usage in our environment in the paediatrics age group is limited probably because few studies have evaluated the normal levels in the healthy children. Hence, we determined the cardiac troponin I level in healthy term newborns.

METHODOLOGY: This was a cross‑sectional analytical study that involved 85 healthy term appropriate for gestational age newborns aged 24–72 h of life. The babies had relevant demographic parameters collected in a study pro forma. We determined the cardiac troponin I assay using enzyme‑linked immunosorbent assay (Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay method (ELISA)) method.

RESULTS: The median (interquartile range [IQR]) cardiac troponin I level was 0.79 (0.79–1.42) ng/ml. The cardiac troponin I level in male newborns, 1.05 (0.79–1.55) ng/ml, was higher but comparable with female newborns, 0.79 (0.79–1.00) ng/ml, P = 0.227. The cardiac troponin I increases with gestational age, P = 0.049. There was no relationship between cardiac troponin I level and birth weight, chronological age and mode of delivery (P > 0.05 in each).

CONCLUSION: The study demonstrated cardiac troponin I levels in healthy term Nigerian newborns with a significant relationship with gestational age.