title: Aortic and carotid intima-media thickness in term small-for-gestational-age newborns and relationship with prenatal signs of severity.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess carotid and aortic intima-media thickness (IMT) in term small-for-gestational-age (SGA) newborns with and without prenatal signs of severity.
  
  
  METHODS
  This prospective study comprised 67 cases diagnosed prenatally and 134 normally grown newborns. Cases were subclassified into SGA with no signs of severity and those with signs of severity, defined as a birth weight below the 3(rd) percentile or abnormal uterine artery Doppler or cerebroplacental ratio. Blood pressure and vascular IMT were evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  SGA newborns showed a non-significant trend for higher values of blood pressure. IMT values were significantly increased in SGA newborns, with and without signs of severity, compared with controls. The magnitude of the increase was higher in SGA newborns with signs of severity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Vascular IMT was increased in SGA newborns, irrespective of the presence or absence of prenatal signs of severity. This finding challenges the notion of 'constitutionally small' SGA, and supports the premise that the majority of SGA newborns have true growth restriction and suffer fetal cardiovascular programming.
authors.affiliation: BCNatal - Barcelona Center for Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Medicine (Hospital Clínic and Hospital Sant Joan de Deu), Barcelona, Spain; IDIBAPS, University of Barcelona, and Centre for Biomedical Research on Rare Diseases (CIBER-ER), Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Stergiotou
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Crispi
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Valenzuela-Alcaraz
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cruz-Lemini
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bijnens
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gratacos
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001011:Aorta / Q000473:pathology; D001018:Aortic Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000473:pathology; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D059168:Carotid Intima-Media Thickness; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005317:Fetal Growth Retardation / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007236:Infant, Small for Gestational Age / Q000502:physiology*; D015588:Observer Variation; D010927:Placental Insufficiency / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D017539:Tunica Intima / Q000473:pathology; D017540:Tunica Media / Q000473:pathology
keywords: aortic intima-media thickness; blood pressure; carotid arterial intima-media thickness; late-onset intrauterine growth restriction; small-for-gestational age