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| |  Fetal Growth And Adult Hypertension: Mother's Nutrition Not The Only Factor LONDON -- June 27, 1997 -- The theory that undernutrition of the mother in pregnancy leads to a combination of a large placenta and low birth weight, and hence predisposes towards cardiovascular disease in adulthood needs further examination, says a paper in this week's British Medical Journal (BMJ). The authors of this prospective cohort study, who studied 2,507 women who gave birth to a single live infant, looked at the factors that influence the relative weights of the placenta and the newborn infant. They say that there are many variable factors involved including female sex, Asian parentage, socioeconomic status and gestational age. They found no consistent relations between the placental weight to birthweight ratio and measures of newborn size. But some of the factors which predict an increased placental weight, such as lower socio-economic status, are themselves predictors for hypertension in later life, they say, and the environmental factors relating to this continue to be influential long after birth. The usefulness of the placental to birthweight ratio as a marker of fetal growth is diminished because it is influenced by many factors apart from maternal nutrition, the authors conclude.
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