title: Effects of advanced maternal age and race/ethnicity on placental weight and placental weight/birthweight ratio in very low birthweight infants.
abstract: To study the association of advanced maternal age (AMA) and race/ethnicity on placental pathology in very low birthweight (VLBW) infants. Retrospective analysis of placental pathology of inborn singleton VLBW infants from a regional level 3 NICU between July, 2002 and June, 2009. Subjects were stratified by age and race/ethnicity. Statistical analysis included One-way ANOVA, Chi Square and multivariable analyses. A total of 739 mother/infant dyads were included. AMA was associated with a decrease in placental weight and placental weight/birthweight ratio. Black/Non-Hispanic mothers ≥35 had a lower placental weight (p = 0.01) and lower placental weight/birth weight ratio (z-score, -0.45 ± 0.71 vs -0.04 ± 1.1, p = 0.01) compared to Black/Non-Hispanic mothers <35 years of age. After controlling for gestational age, race/ethnicity, maternal diabetes, maternal smoking, maternal hypertension and clinical chorioamnionitis, AMA, but not race/ethnicity, remained independently associated with placental weight/birthweight ratio z score (full model r(2) = 0.22, p < 0.01). In our study sample of VLBW infants, placental weight and placental weight/birthweight ratio were lower in mothers of advanced maternal age compared to mothers <35 years of age. Our data suggest that maternal age affects placentation in VLBW infants, which could influence maternal and neonatal outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, 3601 A Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19134, USA, bedejongh@gmail.com.
authors.forename: B E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: de Jongh
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mackley
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Locke
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Paul
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D001724:Birth Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D044383:Black People; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D019102:Infant, Very Low Birth Weight; D008297:Male; D008423:Maternal Age; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009929:Organ Size; D036801:Parturition / Q000502:physiology*; D010920:Placenta / Q000473:pathology*; D010929:Placentation; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome / Q000208:ethnology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies