Abstract
Ammonia levels of 20 premature and 20 full-term randomly-selected infants were measured.
In full-term infants, the blood ammonia levels were found to be within the range of adult levels.
In premature infants, ammonia levels increased as gestational ages decreased. Asymptomatic hyperammonemia occurred in the prematures. A significant reverse correlation was found between hyperammonemia and Apgar score indicating the role of perinatal asphyxia in transient hyperammonemia of premature infants.
Keywords: hyperammonemia, metabolic disorder, newborn, premature infant
Copyright and license
Copyright © 1981 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
