The effect of maternal nutrition on foetal growth and blood pressure at age 2 years

ABSTRACT

This study was designed to examine the effects of maternal nutritional status on foetal growth and blood pressure at 2 years of age. It was a prospective study of women attending antenatal clinic at the University Hospital of the West Indies. 500 women attended the antenatal clinic and had six ultrasound measurements between 14 and 35 weeks gestation. The infants were followed at three-months intervals to 2 years. Main outcome measures were birth weight, head circumference, crown heel length, blood pressure. Measurements of the baby at birth were strongly related to maternal weight, BMI, weight gain in pregnancy (between 8 and 35 weeks), and triceps skinfold thickness. Relationships were strongest with booking weight and BMI. Women who weighed 55kg or less had the smallest, lightest babies and placentae. Placental volume was lower in the lighter women at both 17 and 20 weeks. Differences in abdominal circumference were not discernable until 35 weeks. The ratio of placental volume abdominal circumference at 14 weeks as well as their relative rates of change between 14, 17 and 20 weeks gestation were different between the two groups of women. In the lighter women relative growth of placenta between 14 and 17 weeks was less than in the heavier women, suggesting poorer placental growth in underweight mothers. The data show that there is a relationship between maternal anthropometry, intrauterine growth, postnatal growth and blood pressure(AU)