title: Shorter mothers have shorter pregnancies.
abstract: We assessed whether maternal height was associated with gestational age in a cohort of 294 children born at term. Increasing maternal height was associated with longer pregnancy duration (p = 0.002). Stratified analyses showed that the main effect on pregnancy length appears to occur among shorter mothers (<165 cm tall), whose pregnancies were ∼0.6 and ∼0.7 weeks shorter than pregnancies of mothers 165-170 cm (p = 0.0009) and >170 cm (p = 0.0002) tall, respectively. Further, children of shorter mothers were more likely to be born early term than those of average height (p = 0.021) and taller (p = 0.0003) mothers. Maternal stature is likely to be a contributing factor influencing long-term outcomes in the offspring via its effect on pregnancy length.
authors.affiliation: a Liggins Institute, University of Auckland , Auckland , New Zealand.
authors.forename: J G B
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Derraik
authors.affiliation: a Liggins Institute, University of Auckland , Auckland , New Zealand.|b Gravida: National Centre for Growth and Development , Auckland , New Zealand.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Savage
authors.affiliation: a Liggins Institute, University of Auckland , Auckland , New Zealand.|b Gravida: National Centre for Growth and Development , Auckland , New Zealand.
authors.forename: P L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Hofman
authors.affiliation: a Liggins Institute, University of Auckland , Auckland , New Zealand.|b Gravida: National Centre for Growth and Development , Auckland , New Zealand.
authors.forename: W S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Cutfield
mesh_terms: D001827:Body Height; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D047929:Term Birth; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: gestational age; height; length of gestation; maternal stature; term