RESUMO
The objective of the present study was to investigate the associations of prenatal factors with birth weight and length, as well as current nutritional status, of children hospitalized in southern Brazil. We conducted a cross-sectional study of 300 child-mother pairs. Children were between 4 and 24 months old. They were at the inpatient unit or pediatric emergency department of the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre. Anthropometric data were collected, and a questionnaire on gestational data was answered by the children's mothers. Maternal variables of interest were: prepregnancy body mass index (BMI), gestational weight gain, smoking and/or use of alcohol, use of illicit drugs, gestational diabetes and/ or high blood pressure. Children's variables of interest were: sex, gestational age, birth weight (BW) and birth length (BL), and current anthropometric data [body mass index for age (BMI/A), height for age (H/A), and weight for age (W/A)]. The gestational weight gain and smoking were associated with BW. We also found that H/A was associated with BW and BL, W/A was associated with BW, and BMI/A was associated with BL. The gestational weight gain was associated with BL, diabetes was associated with BW and BL, and high blood pressure was associated with low height in the first two years of life. We concluded that prenatal factors may have an influence on both BW and BL, causing the birth of small and large for gestational age children, and thus affecting their growth rate during the first years of life.
El objetivo de este estudio fue identificar las asociaciones de factores prenatales con el peso y la longitud al nacer y el estado nutricional actual de los niños hospitalizados en el sur de Brasil. Para ello se realizó un estudio transversal de 300 pares de madres y niños de entre 4 y 24 meses de edad, que estaban en la unidad de hospitalización o de emergencia pediátrica del Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre. Se recogieron los datos antropométricos y se respondió a un cuestionario sobre los datos del embarazo. Variables maternas en estudio: IMC antes del embarazo, aumento de peso gestacional, fumar y/o beber alcohol, uso de drogas ilegales, la diabetes y/o hipertensión gestacional; y de los niños: el sexo, la edad gestacional, el peso (PN) y la longitud al nacer (LN), así como los datos antropométricos actuales (índice de masa corporal para la edad (IMC/E), altura para la edad (A/E) y peso para la edad (P/E). Para las asociaciones entre variables se utilizó la prueba de chi-cuadrado y exacta de Fisher; para las que demostraron p.