title: The association of inter-pregnancy interval with small for gestational age births.
abstract: The association between small for gestational age (SGA) birth at term and inter-pregnancy interval was examined in a hospital cohort of 4489 multiparous women. The greatest risk of SGA birth was found in women with the shortest inter-pregnancy intervals. Even after adjusting for multiple confounding factors, women whose inter-pregnancy interval was 18 or fewer months (over one-third of women in the cohort) remained at twice the risk of giving birth to a term SGA infant when compared with women whose inter-pregnancy interval was 24-36 months. In a logistic regression analysis examining the occurrence of SGA birth in women with inter-pregnancy intervals of 36 months or less, a strong linear association was noted between these two factors. The association of term SGA birth with short inter-pregnancy interval could result from one or more physiologic factors that might act to limit fetal growth. In that case, short inter-pregnancy interval would represent a potentially preventable cause of SGA birth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lieberman
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Monson
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Schoenbaum
mesh_terms: D001721:Birth Intervals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007236:Infant, Small for Gestational Age; D010298:Parity; D011247:Pregnancy; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012306:Risk; D012307:Risk Factors