Abstract
BackgroundTrace elements are an essential nutritional component for humans and inadequate tissue-concentrations may have a significant effect on fetal size.ObjectiveTo measure ten trace elements in blood samples from mothers and their newborns, and assess their association with anthropometric characteristics at birth. The effects of other factors on fetal growth, such as biologic characteristics of the infant and mother, were analysed.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted in the Hospital general, University of Valencia, Spain. Healthy pregnant women, and their full-term infants were selected (n = 54 paired samples). Infants were grouped according to birth weight: small for gestational age (SGA n = 11), appropriate (AGA n = 30), and large (LGA n = 13). Anthropometric and biologic characteristics of the infant and mother were recorded. Levels of ten essential elements: arsenic (As), barium (Ba), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), chrome (Cr), iron (Fe), magnesium (Mg), manganese (Mn), selenium (Se) and zinc (Zn), in maternal and cord plasma samples were determined. Samples were obtained from the umbilical cord immediately after delivery and the samples of their mothers were drawn at 2–4 h after delivery.ResultsThe analysis identified that cord blood Cu (p = 0.017) and maternal blood Ba and Mg (p = 0.027 and p = 0.002, respectively) concentrations were significantly higher among SGA infants compared to AGA and LGA infants. A multiple linear regression analysis showed that increased umbilical cord Cu concentration (adjusted β −146.4 g, 95 % CI −255 to −37.7; p = 0.009), maternal smoking during pregnancy (adjusted β −483.8 g, 95 % CI −811.7 to −155.9; p = 0.005), shorter gestational age (adjusted β 350.1 g, 95 % CI 244.5 to 455.8; p = 0.000), and female sex (adjusted β −374 g, 95 % CI −648 to −100; p = 0.009) were significantly associated with decreased birth weight. Maternal anaemia was positively associated with birth weight (adjusted β 362 g, 95 % CI 20.8 to 703.1; p = 0.038). No significant associations were found between maternal trace elements and birth weight in multivariate analysis.ConclusionsWe did not observe significant associations of cord blood trace elements other than Cu and maternal trace elements with birth weight in the multivariate analyses.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12967-015-0654-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Trace elements are an essential nutritional component for humans and inadequate tissue-concentra‐ tions may have a significant effect on fetal size
Even though mothers of newborns regardless of birth weight were invited to participate in the study, those with infants small for gestational age (SGA) or large for gestational age (LGA), were more interested in participating
Multivariate analysis of factors and trace elements associated with birth weight A multiple linear regression analysis showed that increased umbilical cord Cu concentration, maternal smoking during pregnancy, shorter gestational age, and female sex were significantly associated with decreased birth weight
Summary
Trace elements are an essential nutritional component for humans and inadequate tissue-concentra‐ tions may have a significant effect on fetal size. While trace elements are essential for humans, their specific roles are not well understood, especially in the prenatal period. Even though their quantities are very small in body tissue, they are involved in various biochemical pathways and are critical to the performance of certain functions that are necessary to sustain life [10]. In previous studies different concentrations of trace elements such as arsenic (As), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), selenium (Se), copper (Cu), and zinc (Zn), have been found in maternal blood, placenta or umbilical cord, showing an inconsistent association with the anthropometric characteristics of the newborns [12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20]. In addition to the trace elements, we analyzed the effects of some wellknown predictors of fetal growth such as gestational age and sex, maternal age, parity, type of delivery, maternal smoking and hemoglobin levels during the last month of pregnancy [9, 14, 20, 21]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call