Maternal fat indicates birthweight

Measuring hip circumference during pregnancy may help to predict a child's size at birth, report Canadian researchers.

"To our knowledge, this is the first study to show that peripheral adiposity markers are related to offspring birth size in women with and without diabetes," they say.

The study of 21 women who had gestational diabetes and 27 who had normal glucose tolerance showed that hip measurements taken at 31 to 34 weeks of gestation significantly correlated with other markers of peripheral adiposity and with offspring length, across the entire study population.

In all women, both offspring length and weight correlated with maternal weight and tricep skinfold thickness at 32 weeks.

Multivariate analysis showed that hip circumference was the strongest predictor of infant birth weight and length, accounting for a respective 14.1% and 9.7% of the variance in each parameter.

John Weisnagel (Laval University Medical Research Centre, Quebec) and colleagues report that the mean weight gain among the women during pregnancy was 13.8 kg, and according to the Institute of Medicine's guidelines, 51% of the women gained more weight than recommended.

"Neonates of overweight and obese women have been recognized as being significantly heavier at birth compared with those from lean or average-weight women because of an increase in fat and not lean body mass," they write in Diabetes and Metabolism.

It is now known that infants that are born with a higher birth weight are more likely to have a high body mass index in later life, along with the associated detrimental health consequences, remark the researchers.

Therefore, noninvasive methods that can estimate infant growth parameters may help to mitigate future health consequences in such offspring, they suggest.

In pregnant women with or without diabetes, measuring the third-trimester hip circumference may be helpful in this regard, concludes the team.

Licensed from medwireNews with permission from Springer Healthcare Ltd. ©Springer Healthcare Ltd. All rights reserved. Neither of these parties endorse or recommend any commercial products, services, or equipment.

Sally Robertson

Written by

Sally Robertson

Sally first developed an interest in medical communications when she took on the role of Journal Development Editor for BioMed Central (BMC), after having graduated with a degree in biomedical science from Greenwich University.

Citations

Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report:

  • APA

    Robertson, Sally. (2018, August 23). Maternal fat indicates birthweight. News-Medical. Retrieved on October 10, 2024 from https://www.news-medical.net/news/20120720/Maternal-fat-indicates-birthweight.aspx.

  • MLA

    Robertson, Sally. "Maternal fat indicates birthweight". News-Medical. 10 October 2024. <https://www.news-medical.net/news/20120720/Maternal-fat-indicates-birthweight.aspx>.

  • Chicago

    Robertson, Sally. "Maternal fat indicates birthweight". News-Medical. https://www.news-medical.net/news/20120720/Maternal-fat-indicates-birthweight.aspx. (accessed October 10, 2024).

  • Harvard

    Robertson, Sally. 2018. Maternal fat indicates birthweight. News-Medical, viewed 10 October 2024, https://www.news-medical.net/news/20120720/Maternal-fat-indicates-birthweight.aspx.

Comments

The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of News Medical.
Post a new comment
Post

While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. We do not provide medical advice, if you search for medical information you must always consult a medical professional before acting on any information provided.

Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles.

Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

Read the full Terms & Conditions.

You might also like...
Green spaces reduce the deadly impact of air pollution on people with type 2 diabetes