title: Maternal leptin across pregnancy in women with small-for-gestational-age infants.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We hypothesized that women with small-for-gestational-age (SGA) neonates would have lower concentrations of leptin compared to women with appropriately grown infants (AGA).
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a nested case-control study of normotensive nulliparous women. Cases (n = 28) delivered SGA < 10 percentile and controls (n = 77) delivered AGA. Maternal plasma leptin concentrations were compared at 18, 28, and 40 weeks' gestation via repeated measures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Maternal leptin concentrations at 18 weeks were correlated with prepregnancy BMI (r = 0.69, P < .0001) and early pregnancy waist circumference (r = 0.59, P < .0001). After adjustment for maternal body composition, leptin was lower across pregnancy in women with SGA compared to AGA neonates (13.6 vs 15.2 ng/mL at 18 weeks; 13.6 vs 17.3 ng/mL at 28 weeks; 16.6 vs 20.7 ng/mL at 40 weeks; P = .04).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Maternal leptin was correlated with maternal adiposity; however, after adjustment for body composition, leptin was lower across pregnancy in women with SGA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA. jmcst43@pitt.edu
authors.forename: Janet M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Catov
authors.forename: Thelma E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Patrick
authors.forename: Robert W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Powers
authors.forename: Roberta B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Ness
authors.forename: Gail
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Harger
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Roberts
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001823:Body Composition; D015992:Body Mass Index; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000378:metabolism; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007236:Infant, Small for Gestational Age / Q000097:blood*; D018970:Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 1 / Q000097:blood; D020738:Leptin / Q000097:blood*; D010928:Placental Lactogen / Q000097:blood; D011247:Pregnancy; D013002:Somatomedins / Q000032:analysis; D049629:Waist-Hip Ratio
chemical_list: D008078:Cholesterol, LDL; C032231:IGFBP1 protein, human; D018970:Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 1; D020738:Leptin; D013002:Somatomedins; D010928:Placental Lactogen