Effect of Maternal Lipid Levels during Late Pregnancy on the Birth of Large for Gestational Age Newborns in a Tertiary Care Setting in Southern Sri Lanka

Abstract

Introduction: Incidence of childhood obesity is increasing worldwide and obesity related comorbidities are also increasing simultaneously in the paediatric population. During pregnancy, growth of the foetus is highly influenced by the in utero environment. It is established that Asians have lower skeletal muscle mass and excess body fat for a given Body Mass Index (BMI). Aim: To determine the associations between aetiologies and the birth of Large for Gestational Age (LGA) babies for the first time in a tertiary care setting in Southern Sri Lanka and to determine whether changes in maternal lipid profile are associated with the birth of LGA babies. Materials and Methods: In the first arm of the study, 149 mothers were interviewed to obtain information on aetiologies and complications associated with birth of LGA babies. In the second arm of the study, 3 mL of blood was collected from 104 mothers and serum total cholesterol, triglycerides and HDL cholesterol concentration were measured and LDL cholesterol concentration was calculated by the Friedewald equation. Anthropometric parameters of the newborns were measured. Results: There were significantly higher levels (p<0.001) of serum triglycerides and significantly lower levels (p<0.001) of serum HDL in mothers who delivered LGA babies compared to mothers who delivered appropriate for gestational age babies. There were significant correlations between maternal serum triglyceride and HDL level and the birth weight (r=0.529, 0.397), length (r=0.485, 0.358) and head circumference (r=0.228, 0.252) of the newborn respectively. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that high maternal TG and Low HDL levels in late pregnancy are independently and significantly associated with the birth of LGA infants. The results of present study were not significantly different from previously published results on other populations hence this preliminary study suggest that having high body fat in the Sri Lankan population had no significant impact on the birth of LGA infants.