Abstract
This study of placentas obtained from the deliveries of 71 poor, black adolescents was prompted by data showing that younger adolescent mothers bear more small babies than do older adolescent mothers. Histomorphometric techniques were used to examine the effect of three measures of maternal age (chronologic age, gynecologic age, and bone age) on the placenta. We hypothesized that placental villous/capillary exchange area increases with the age of the adolescent mother. We found that villous/capillary surface area was inversely related to maternal gynecologic age (r = −.26; P =. 01) and unrelated to maternal chronologic age or bone age. We speculate that the structural difference we identified in the placentas of gynecologically younger adolescents reflects a direct effect of maternal gynecologic age on placental development. Since maternal gynecologic age and maternal malnutrition affect placental development differently, we conclude that our findings do not support the hypothesis that younger adolescent ...
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