Parental Factors Associated with Intrauterine Growth Restriction

Abstract

Introduction: Linear growth failure is caused by multiple factors including parental factors.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate parental risk factors for intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) on a population of Romanian newborn infants in a tertiary level maternity facility for a period of 2.5 years.

Methods: A retrospective matched case-control study was conducted in the Emergency County Hospital of Cluj-Napoca, a university hospital in North-Western Romania. The sample was selected from 4,790 infants admitted to the Neonatal Ward at 1st Gynecology Clinic between January 2012 and June 2014.

Results: The age of mothers was significantly lower in the IUGR group compared to controls (p = 0.041). A significantly higher percentage of mothers had hypertension in the IUGR group compared to those in the control group (p<0.05). No other significant differences were identified with regard to the investigated characteristics of mothers between IUGR infants compared to controls (p > 0.13). The age of fathers of infants with IUGR proved significantly lower compared to controls (p = 0.0278).The analysis of infants'comorbidities revealed no significant difference between groups for respiratory distress, hyperbilirubinemia, hypocalcaemia, and heart failure (p > 0.27). Intracranial hemorrhage, necrotizing enterocolitis and hypoglycemia were significantly higher in the IUGR group compared to controls. The logistic regression identified hypertension as a significant risk factor for IUGR (OR = 2.4, 95% Cl [1.3-4.5]).

Conclusion: Although the age of the mothers and fathers proved significantly lower in the IUGR group compared to controls, only hypertension in the mothers proved significant risk factors for IUGR.