Comparison of umbilical cord blood lipid profiles between appropriate and small for gestational age newborns with their mothers’ lipid profiles: a case-control study from tertiary care centre of Karnataka

Abstract

Background: Fetal malnutrition and fetal growth restriction results in dysfunctions of neuroendocrine system, pancreas and adipose-tissue; finally increasing the food intake and decreasing energy use. This results in an increase in adipose deposition and insulin-resistance and ultimately increasing chances of adult metabolic-diseases. This study makes an effort to compare and contrast the lipid-profiles of Small for Gestational Age (SGA) and Appropriate for Gestational Age (AGA)newborns correlating and with their mother’s lipid-profiles. Methods: This was a case-control study, conducted in the Departments of Pediatrics and OBG of Karwar Institute of Medical Sciences,Karwar, Karnataka,India over a period of twelve months(January-2021 to January-2022). With 500neonates, 357appropriate for gestational age (AGA) and 143 small for gestational age(SGA) babies were included for the study as controls and cases for their lipid profiles using their cord-blood. Results: here, we found that SGA-babies had lower gestational age (37.40±1.01 weeks) at birth compared to AGA-babies (39.22±1.05 weeks) which was statistically significant. The mean Total Cholesterol (TC) level (84.47±27.39 mg/dl) was higher in SGA-babies compared to AGA-babies (56.87±32.28 mg/dl) and this difference was statistically highly significant (p value<0.0001). The mean very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) level (14.10±10.67 mg/dl) was higher in SGA-babies than AGA-babies (7.17±3.69 mg/dl) with p value<0.0001 (highly significant). The mean low density lipoprotein (LDL) level (38.74±19.85 mg/dl) was higher in SGA-babies compared to AGA-babies (25.63±14.15 mg/dl) and this difference was statistically significant (p value<0.0001). The mean high density lipoprotein (HDL) levels of AGA and SGA-babies were comparable with low statistical significance (26.70±14.90 mg/dl of SGA; 24.45±9.567 mg/dl of AGA, p value 0.095). Conclusions: Levels of all lipids were observed to be higher in SGA babies than in AGA babies. Mothers who gave birth to SGA babies were found to have statistically significant high VLDL levels.