BACKGROUND The relationship between maternal hemoglobin (Hb) levels during pregnancy and birth outcomes has been controversial. Changes in Hb level during pregnancy may have an impact on birth outcomes. This study aimed to investigate whether changes in Hb levels from early to mid- or late pregnancy is associated with birth outcomes. METHODS Participants were singleton mothers who delivered a...

Fetal growth depends in part on placental growth. The authors tested placental measures derived from digital images for reliability and to evaluate their association with birth weight and gestational age. A total of 628 women recruited into the Pregnancy, Infection, and Nutrition Study, a prospective cohort study of preterm birth in central North Carolina between 2002 and 2004, delivered single...

OBJECTIVES Leg length is the component of stature most sensitive to early life nutrition; as such, it provides an opportunity to retrospectively evaluate the relationship between a woman's infancy and early childhood nutrition and offspring birth weight (BW). Here we explore the relationship between maternal leg length and offspring BW in a rural Philippine community, while also investigating t...

The objective of this project was to determine if the placental weight/ratio is affected by various maternal variables such as maternal age, BMI, gestational diabetes, and race using various mathematical approaches. A study was performed on 1229 mothers who were of different age groups, five different races, various BMI, and approximately 4% had gestational diabetes. We analyzed each of these f...

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) causes short- and long-term morbidity. Reduced placental perfusion is an important pathogenic component of IUGR; substances that enhance vasodilation in the uterine circulation, such as sildenafil citrate (sildenafil), may improve placental blood flow and fetal growth. This study aimed to examine the effects of sildenafil in the growth-restricted ovine fet...

OBJECTIVE Elevated pre-pregnancy BMI, excessive gestational weight gain (GWG), and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) are known determinants of fetal growth. The role of placental weight is unclear. We aimed to examine the extent to which placental weight mediates the associations of pre-pregnancy BMI, GWG, and GDM with birth weight-for-gestational age, and whether the relationships differ by ...

PURPOSE To investigate relationship between placental thickness during the second and third trimesters and placental and birth weights. METHODS From January 2011 to June 2012, a total of 250 singleton pregnant women presented at our antenatal clinic were enrolled in this prospective study. All recruited women were assessed at the 1st trimester screening for baseline demographic and obstetric ...

STUDY QUESTION Is the age of the father associated with placental weight or the ratio of placental weight to birthweight? SUMMARY ANSWER Placental weight and placental to birthweight ratio increased according to increasing paternal age, also after adjustment for maternal age. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY High paternal age and also high placental to birthweight ratio have been associated with adver...