RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MATERNAL NUTRITIONAL-STATUS AND INFANTS WEIGHT AND BODY PROPORTIONS AT BIRTH

Objectives: To examine maternal nutritional status and its relationshi p to infant weight and body proportions. Design: Retrospective study o f births from January-December 1990. Setting: University Hospital of t he West Indies, Jamaica. Subjects: Records for 2394 live, singleton bi rths, between 200-305 d gestation. Main outcome measures: Birth weight , crown heel length, head circumference, ponderal index, head circumfe rence:length ratio, placental weight, placental:birth weight ratio. Re sults: Mothers who were lighter had babies who had lower birth weight, were shorter, had smaller heads and had a higher HC:L ratio. Shorter and thinner women had babies who had lower birth weights, were shorter , had smaller heads and lighter placentas. Thinner women also had babi es with a lower placental:birth weight ratio, and their BMI's were not linearly related to ponderal index and HC:L ratio. Women whose first trimester Hb levels were <9.5 g/dl had babies with the lowest birth we ight, crown heel length, placental weight and ponderal index. These me asurements increased as the Hb levels rose to 12.5 g/dl but then fell at Hb levels >12.5 g/dl. In the second and third trimester Hb levels w ere negatively associated with birth weight, crown heel length, head c ircumference, placenta weight and ponderal index. Conclusions: The dat a support the hypothesis that poor maternal nutrition is associated wi th foetal growth restraint. Poor maternal nutrition as indicated by lo w weight, height, and BMI are associated with smaller, shorter babies with smaller heads. Haemoglobin levels >12.5 g/dl in pregnancy are ass ociated with lighter, shorter, thinner babies, with smaller heads.