Abstracts of 53rd Symposium of the Society for the Study of Human Biology celebrating the Human Biology of Jim Tanner held at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 13–15 December 2011

Abstract

PROFFERED PAPERSGrowth cessation is not the necessary norm during the final weeks of gestationAmanda Mummert1, Michelle Lampl1 & Philippe Jeanty21Department of Anthropology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA2Women's Ultrasound, Nashville, TN, USABackground: The cessation of growth in late gestation is considered to be a universal consequence of maternal constraint, limited by non-genetic and non-pathological influences that impact the flow of nutrients from mother and placenta to fetus.Aim: To investigate fetal growth patterns during late gestation with serial Toshiba SAL 10A ultrasound.Subjects and methods: Ultrasound assessments of the head, limb and abdomen were made weekly on 46 fetuses from clinically uncomplicated pregnancies among middle class women from Belgium. Repeated measures regression investigated growth patterns; maternal and paternal height and weight were covariates.Results: Positive slopes for each variable were found with gestational age from 33 weeks. Maternal height had no significant effect on any parameter; maternal weight and BMI had positive effects on head and limb, and together with paternal height, positively predicted abdominal diameter. We find that, contrary to notions of growth restriction during the final weeks of gestation, growth of body parameters continues from 33 gestational weeks.Conclusion: These findings suggest that the idea of maternal constraint be revisited in light of evidence that the normal fetus does not experience growth cessation during the final weeks of gestation.