Blood folic acid, vitamin B12, and homocysteine levels in pregnant women with fetal growth restriction

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Deficiencies in nutrients such as folic acid and vitamin B12 may play a role in fetal growth restriction (FGR). However, whether folic acid, vitamin B12, or homocysteine is associated with FGR in Chinese populations remains unclear. This study investigated the relationship between these nutrient deficiencies and FGR in pregnant Chinese women. We selected 116 mother and infant pairs, and categorized the neonates into the FGR, appropriate for gestational age, and large for gestational age groups. Birth weight, body length, head circumference, body mass index (BMI), and Rohrer's body index of the newborns were measured. Serum folic acid, vitamin B12, and homocysteine levels were measured in mothers during the first three days of their hospital stay. Results showed that the FGR group exhibited reduced folic acid and vitamin B12 levels and elevated homocysteine levels than those in the other two groups. Folic acid and vitamin B12 levels were positively correlated with birth weight, head circumference, and BMI, whereas homocysteine level was negatively correlated with these variables. The FGR ratio in the folic acid and vitamin B12 deficiency group was higher than that in the sufficiency group (χ 2 = 4.717 and 4.437, P = 0.029 and 0.035, respectively). In addition, elevated homocysteine was associated with FGR (χ 2 = 5.366, P = 0.021). In conclusion, we found that folic acid and vitamin B12 deficiency was associated with elevated homocysteine levels, which may increase susceptibility to FGR.

Maternal One-Carbon Metabolism during the Periconceptional Period and Human Foetal Brain Growth: A Systematic Review

“…In two articles, a positive association between RBC folate levels in early pregnancy and neonatal HC was described [32,33]. Similar associations were found with serum folate in one study (R = 0.394, P = 0.044) [39]. This was in contrast to two other studies, which found no association between serum, plasma, and RBC folate concentrations and neonatal HC across all trimesters [38,41].…”

“…The study by Takimoto et al (ErasmusAGE score 4) described that neonatal HC was negatively correlated with maternal vitamin B 6 during late pregnancy [31]. Ten studies examined the relationship between serum/plasma folate or red blood cell (RBC) folate concentrations and brain size, including one RCT [32], eight prospective cohort studies [33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40], and one cross-sectional study [41] (Table 1). Serum/plasma folate is indicative of recent folate intake, whereas RBC folate concentrations are useful to measure long-term folate status, as folate accumulates in RBCs during erythropoiesis and remains unvaried across the lifespan of the RBC (approximately 120 days) [42].…”

Effect of Nutritional Interventions on Micronutrient Status in Pregnant Malawian Women with Moderate Malnutrition: A Randomized, Controlled Trial

“…Women with an increase in serum folate had infants with greater BL. A study in China found that women with the lowest serum folate levels were more likely to have infants born with fetal growth restriction [ 25 ]. Similar results were found in India, in which pregnant women with greater erythrocyte folate at 28 weeks had infants with greater birth weight [ 26 ].…”

A Novel Review of Homocysteine and Pregnancy Complications

“…According to recent studies, HHct was associated with numerous pregnancy complications, including recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) [34][35][36][37][38][39], preeclampsia (PE) [40,41], preterm delivery [42,43], placental abruption [3,44,45], fetal growth restriction (FGR) [46][47][48], and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) [49,50]. However, a number of these findings lack consistency [16,36,[51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61].…”