American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 51, 790-793, Copyright © 1990 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc

ORIGINAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Maternal growth during pregnancy and decreased infant birth weight

TO Scholl, ML Hediger and IG Ances
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, SOM & Cooper Hospital/University Medical Center, Camden 08103.

We used stature and measurement of knee height to measure continued maternal growth during adolescent pregnancy in a sample of young gravidas (primigravidas and multiparas) and mature pregnant control subjects. Growth during pregnancy has been masked by a tendency of all gravidas to shrink while pregnant (approximately 0.5 cm over 6 mo of observation). Consequently, growth of many adolescent gravidas has not been clinically apparent. There was no effect on maternal growth during a first pregnancy in adolescence but this may be a result of the relatively good prepregnant nutrition status of the young gravidas in developed countries. Maternal growth during pregnancy, however, is associated with significantly decreased (-282 g, p less than 0.05) birth weight for infants when maternal growth continues during a subsequent adolescent pregnancy. This observation is consistent with the hypothesized competition between the metabolic demands of the growing adolescent mother and the nutrient needs of her developing fetus.

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