Prepregnant reproductive risk and subsequent birth outcome among Scandinavian parous women
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5324/nje.v7i1.352Abstract
SUMMARY
This study examined the impact of maternal prepregnant stature, smoking, and past reproductive characteristics
on gestational length, birthweight, weight-for-gestation, and crown heel length. Analyses were based
on 5722 para one and two Caucasian women in Trondheim and Bergen (Norway) and Uppsala (Sweden)
who had a singleton pregnancy and who were interviewed before 20 completed weeks of gestation. Data
included information about previous induced and spontaneous abortions, prepregnant weight and height,
smoking, course and outcome of previous pregnancies with special reference to preterm and low birthweight
(LBW) births, and perinatal deaths. Number of adverse outcome predictors was counted for each woman and
birth outcomes were analysed by that number. Separate univariate and multivariate analyses examined the
impact of the individual risk characteristics. Mean birthweight, crown heel length, and gestational length
were significantly related to number of prepregnant risk characteristics with a dose response decrease from
3750 g, 51.2 cm, and 39.6 weeks to 2955 g, 47.7 cm, and 37.7 weeks for women with zero and six risk
factors, respectively. Both univariate and multivariate analyses showed that prepregnant weight, a previous
LBW birth, and cigarette smoking around conception were the strongest birthweight predictors with a mean
BW reduction of 424 g (95% CI 373, 475 g) and 130 g (95% CI 112, 157 g) for a previous LBW birth and
10 cigarettes per day, respectively. As 88% of birthweight variation was left unexplained by these
prepregnancy characteristics, it may be concluded that the major risk factors are either unknown or that main
predictors of birthweight, such as life style factors, exert their effect
during gestation, or both.
Key words: Pregnancy, risk factor, parous women, birth outcome
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