Relationship of Vitamin D Serum Level With Intrauterine Growth Retardation in Pregnant Women

Abstract

Objectives: Intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) is a major problem in midwifery medicine for which no effective treatment has been established. This problem has been associated with significant morbidity and mortality, as well as perinatal mortality. IUGR could be prevented when the treatment is administered before the occurance of irreversible changes. Hence appropriate methods for early detection and successful treatment deem necessary. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of vitamin D serum level with IUGR in pregnant women. Materials and Methods: This nested case-control study was conducted on pregnant women who had referred to Fatemieh hospital during 2016. Each of case and control groups included 130 pregnant women. Serum levels of vitamin D were tested in the blood samples obtained from the participants. At the end of the study, all data were analyzed in SPSS software version 16, and χ2 , Fisher exact and t tests were utilized for data analyses. Level of 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Our results showed that the average age, body mass index at the beginning of the pregnancy, blood group, employment status, and education level were not significantly different between the two groups. Moreover, average serum levels of vitamin D were about 14.74 ng/L and 25.34 ng/L in the case and control groups, respectively. In those with vitamin D deficiency, the chance of IUGR was higher compared to those who had sufficient levels of vitamin D (6.27 times). Therefore, women who had vitamin D deficiency, had almost 6 times more chance of IUGR incidence compared to the women with adequate levels of vitamin D (P<0.05). Conclusions: The results verified that serum levels of vitamin D can affect the risk of IUGR; therefore, the incidence of IUGR in babies whose mothers have enough vitamin D level during pregnancy is lower than that in other babies.

The Relation between Vitamin D Deficiency and Fetal Growth Restriction in Pregnant Women

“…Alimohamadi et al (2) concluded that the serum levels of vitamin D can affect the risk of IUGR; therefore, the incidence of IUGR in babies whose mothers have enough vitamin D level during pregnancy is lower than that in other babies. Average serum levels of vitamin D were about 14.74 ng/L and 25.34 ng/L in the case and control groups, respectively.…”

“…A satisfactory definition of IUGR has been the rate of fetal growth that is less than normal considering growth potential of that specific infant suggested by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Intrauterine growth restriction is a multifaceted problem, that increases the risk of hypoxemia, acidemia, preterm deaths, and maternal distress, and disposes the infant to several metabolic disorders, polycythemia, lung problems, intraventricular hemorrhage, cognitive dysfunction, and cerebral palsy, which occur in both term and preterm infants (1,2) . Some of the effective factors for the occurrence of intrauterine growth restriction include the history of chronic maternal diseases (high blood pressure, renal diseases, diabetes, anemia, etc.)…”

“…Some of the effective factors for the occurrence of intrauterine growth restriction include the history of chronic maternal diseases (high blood pressure, renal diseases, diabetes, anemia, etc.) maternal weight gain during pregnancy, maternal age during pregnancy, occupation, different types of fetal infections and chromosomal abnormalities, birth rank, delivery interval, neonatal sex, placental abruption, and placenta previa (2) .…”

“…χ2 Chi square test § chi square for trend test t independent sample t test *p<0.05 is statistically significant **p≤0.001 is statistically highly significant…”

Associations between maternal vitamin D status and porcine litter characteristics throughout gestation

“…In addition to well-characterised roles postnatally, emerging evidence suggests an important role of vitamin D in the establishment and maintenance of pregnancy, and the regulation of foetal growth across mammalian species (reviewed by [8,9]). Vitamin D insufficiency has been associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes including intrauterine growth restriction [10][11][12], preeclampsia [13,14], and preterm birth [15][16][17]. Further, it is known that vitamin D regulatory enzymes and VDR are expressed at the maternal-conceptus interface in many mammalian species, including sheep, humans, rodents, and pigs [18][19][20][21][22][23], suggesting that local metabolism of vitamin D can occur in the pregnant uterus.…”