Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Oct 14:7:720.
doi: 10.1186/1756-0500-7-720.

Genes and post-term birth: late for delivery

William Schierding, Justin M O'Sullivan, José G B Derraik, Wayne S Cutfield  1
Affiliations

Genes and post-term birth: late for delivery

William Schierding et al. BMC Res Notes. .

Abstract

Background: Recent evidence suggests that prolonged pregnancies beyond 42 weeks of gestation (post-term births) are associated with long-term adverse health outcomes in the offspring.

Discussion: There is evidence that post-term birth has not only environmental causes, but also significant heritability, suggesting genetic and/or epigenetic influences interact with environmental cues to affect gestational length.

Summary: As prolonged gestation is associated with adverse short- and long-term outcomes in the offspring, further research into the underlying genetic and epigenetic causes of post-term birth could be of importance for improving obstetric management.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Muglia LJ, Katz M. The enigma of spontaneous preterm birth. N Engl J Med. 2010;362:529–535. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra0904308. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Zeitlin J, Blondel B, Alexander S, Bréart G, PERISTAT Group Variation in rates of postterm birth in Europe: reality or artefact? BJOG. 2007;114:1097–1103. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.2007.01328.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Norwitz ER, Snegovskikh VV, Caughey AB. Prolonged pregnancy: when should we intervene? Clin Obstet Gynecol. 2007;50:547–557. doi: 10.1097/GRF.0b013e31804c9b11. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ayyavoo A, Derraik JG, Hofman PL, Mathai S, Biggs J, Stone P, Sadler L, Cutfield WS. Pre-pubertal children born post-term have reduced insulin sensitivity and other markers of the metabolic syndrome. PLoS One. 2013;8:e67966. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0067966. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Beltrand J, Soboleva TK, Shorten PR, Derraik JG, Hofman P, Albertsson-Wikland K, Hochberg Z, Cutfield WS. Post-term birth is associated with greater risk of obesity in adolescent males. J Pediatr. 2012;160:769–773. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2011.10.030. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types