Home Medicine Effect of third trimester maternal vitamin D levels on placental weight to birth weight ratio in uncomplicated pregnancies
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Effect of third trimester maternal vitamin D levels on placental weight to birth weight ratio in uncomplicated pregnancies

  • Mehmet Mete Kirlangic ORCID logo EMAIL logo , Osman Sertac Sade ORCID logo and Mefkure Eraslan Sahin ORCID logo
Published/Copyright: December 13, 2022

Abstract

Objectives

Vitamin D has critical role for the fetal and placental development. Today, placental weight (PW), fetal birth weight (BW), and the PW/BW ratio are used as markers of fetal development. The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between vitamin D levels and these markers in uncomplicated pregnancies.

Methods

This study included 108 women with uncomplicated pregnancies, defined as full-term and healthy pregnancies without perinatal complications. Vitamin D levels <12 ng/mL were classified as deficient, 12–20 ng/mL as insufficient, and >20 ng/mL as normal. Postnatal BW and PW were compared according to maternal serum vitamin D levels.

Results

Maternal age, maternal height, maternal weight, body mass index, nulliparity, gestational age at delivery, mode of delivery, and fetal gender were similar between groups. Postnatal BW, PW, fetal height at birth, and fetal head circumference parameters were similar between the groups. The PW/BW ratio was 21.77±2.20 in the vitamin D deficient group, 21.20±2.40 in the insufficient group, and 19.98±2.37 in the normal group (p=0.012). In addition, there was a significant negative correlation between vitamin D level and the PW/BW ratio (p=0.012, r=0.031).

Conclusions

Our results indicated that PW/BW ratio which is the marker for prediction adverse perinatal outcomes were significantly increased in the presence of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency.


Corresponding author: Mehmet Mete Kirlangic, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kartal Dr. Lutfi Kirdar Research and Training Hospital, Soğanlık Yeni neighborhood, Aheste Street, Çukurova Balkon apartment, B Block No.50 Kartal, Istanbul, Turkiye, Phone: +905064641819, E-mail:

  1. Research funding: None declared.

  2. Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.

  3. Competing interests: Authors state no conflict of interest.

  4. Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study.

  5. Ethical approval: This study is designed as prospective and cross-sectional. Approval was obtained from the Marmara University Faculty of Medicine Ethics Committee for the study (approval no: 09.2021.98). It was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki declaration.

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Received: 2022-09-04
Accepted: 2022-11-14
Published Online: 2022-12-13
Published in Print: 2023-06-27

© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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