Folate and intrauterine growth retardation

The objectives of this case-control study were to compare the levels of folate in cord and maternal blood of 315 mothers who had intrauterine growth-retarded (IUGR) babies and 321 mothers who had appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA) babies, to evaluate the correlation between cord and maternal fola...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of tropical paediatrics 2000-12, Vol.20 (4), p.253-258
Main Authors: Rondo, P. H. C., Tomkins, A. M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis. Health state
Biological and medical sciences
Case-Control Studies
Dietary Supplements
Diseases of mother, fetus and pregnancy
Epidemiology
Female
Fetal Blood - chemistry
Fetal Growth Retardation - blood
Fetal Growth Retardation - etiology
Folic Acid - blood
Folic Acid Deficiency - blood
General aspects
Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Iron - administration & dosage
Medical sciences
Pregnancy
Pregnancy. Fetus. Placenta
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Tropical medicine
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The objectives of this case-control study were to compare the levels of folate in cord and maternal blood of 315 mothers who had intrauterine growth-retarded (IUGR) babies and 321 mothers who had appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA) babies, to evaluate the correlation between cord and maternal folate and to assess the prevalence of folate deficiency. Mothers were recruited from the four largest hospitals in Campinas city, south-east Brazil. The gestational ages of the newborns were evaluated by the Capurro method. They were classified as being IUGR according to the Lubchenco birthweight-for-gestational-age standard. Red blood cell (RBC) folate was measured by radio-immunoassay. Slightly more IUGR (25.7%) than AGA babies (19.9%) had cord folate levels ≤ 226.5 nmol/l (100 ng/ml) (p = 0.05) and similar percentages of IUGR (32.1%) and AGA (29.9%) mothers had folate levels ≤ 226.5 nmol/l. Mean cord folate levels in IUGR and AGA babies were 10% higher than mean folate levels in the two groups of mothers (p < 0.001). There were weak correlations between maternal and cord folate in IUGR (r = 0.31) and AGA (r = 0.35) (p < 0.001) mother/baby groups. In this population, 35% of mothers were folate-deficient although it was not associated with IUGR. Nevertheless, it would be important to give Brazilian women folate tablets during pregnancy and to investigate the effect on concentrations of homocysteine and on the prevalence of birth defects.
ISSN:0272-4936
2046-9047
1465-3281
2046-9055
DOI:10.1080/02724936.2000.11748144