Association between placental efficiency with anthropometry and nutritional phenotypes in full-term newborns from the 2010/2011 BRISA birth cohort

OBJECTIVE

To study the association between placental efficiency with anthropometry and nutritional phenotypes in full-term newborns from a birth cohort.

METHOD

This was a secondary cross-sectional analysis of data obtained in a cohort study (Brazilian RibeirãoPreto and São Luís Birth Cohort Studies - BRISA), whose deliveries were performed between 2010 and 2011. Standardized questionnaires were applied to mothers, and placentas and newborns were evaluated shortly after delivery. Placental efficiency was assessed using the ratio between birth weight and placental weight (BW/PW ratio); values below the lower quartile (25th percentile for gestational age) were considered to have low placental efficiency. Newborn phenotypes were small and large for gestational age, stunted and wasted, evaluated using the INTERGROWTH-21 growth standard. To identify the confounding variables theoretical model was constructed using Directed Acyclic Graphs, and unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression were performed. Placental measurements were obtained blindly from pregnancy and delivery data.

RESULTS

723 mother-placenta-child triads were studied. 3.2 % of newborns were small-for-gestational-age (SGA), 6.5 %large-for-gestational-age (LGA), 5.7 %had stunting, and 0.27 % wasting. A significantly higher risk was found between low placental efficiency and SGA (OR 2.82;95 % CI 1.05-7.57), stunting (OR 2.23; 95 % CI 1.07-4.65), and wasting (OR 8.22; 95 % CI 1.96-34.37). No relationship was found between LGA and placental efficiency.

CONCLUSIONS

Low placental efficiency was associated with increased risk for small-for-gestational-age, stunting, and wasting. Placental morphometry can provide valuable information on intrauterine conditions and neonatal health, helping to identify newborns at higher risk of future comorbidities.

Abuse, disrespect and mistreatment during childbirth care: contribution of the Ribeirão Preto cohorts, Brazil

Abstract This study aimed to estimate the perception and frequency of abuse, disrespect and mistreatment (ADM) situations during childbirth care of 745 women from the Ribeirão Preto birt cohorts. Confidential questionnaires containing one question regarding perceived abuse during childbirth care and other questions addressing exposure to ADM situations were applied. The chi-squared test was used to compare the situations presented between women who did and did not report mistreatment using the Stata 14.0 software. Among the 745 women evaluated, 66.2% were exposed to some situation of ADM and 8.3% reported having perceived ADM. The most frequent situations were that the woman could not eat or drink (30.5%), the woman had her belly squeezed to help the child be born (27.5%), and the woman could not stay with a companion of her choice (25.5%). Women who reported to have suffered maltreatment more frequently responded positively to all situations of ADM when compared to the other participants, except for the following statements: “I was not allowed to eat or drink anything” (p = 0.975) and “I was forced to have a cesarean delivery against my will” (p = 0.073). Although most women of the Ribeirão Preto cohorts reported exposure to ADM situations during childbirth care, a minority perceived disrespect or mistreatment.