Association of Placental Weight With Birth Weight, Gestational Age, and Risk Factors Related to Maternal Morbidity, Diet, Activity, and Rest

Abstract

Background: Placental weight and its relationship to infant size at birth have been studied for more than a century.[1] A low placental weight is associated with the medical complications in the mother.[2] The risk of essential hypertension in adult life falls with increasing birth weight and rises with increasing placental weight and that the mothers at highest risk are those with a high placental weight relative to birth weight-that is, a high placental ratio.[3] Aims/Objective: To study association of placental weight with birth weight, gestational age and maternal morbidity, diet, activity and rest. Settings and Design / Methods and Material: A cohort of 1876 apparently healthy pregnant women registered and attending antenatal clinic of Krishna Hospital was studied to find out the correlation of the placental weight with the LBW and preterm births and their association with selected maternal risk factors. Statistical Analysis Used: Correlation (r), Chi-square test, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Boneferroni test, Unpaired 't' test, were used. Results: There was a statistically significant association of the mean placental weight with the mean birth weight and proportion of LBW of the baby as indicated by ANOVA test. (F= 29.627; p<0.001) and (χ2 =102.6; p<0.001) respectively. There was a statistically significant association of the mean placental weight with the mean gestational period of the baby and proportion of the preterm births as indicated by ANOVA test. (F= 7.694; p<0.001) and (χ2=18.377;p<0.001) respectively. Daily frequency of meals < 4, antenatal morbidity of preeclampsia, PIH and APH were associated with lesser placental weight. Conclusion: There was a significant association of placental weight with birth weight, gestational age, maternal morbidity and frequency of maternal meals.