title: Prenatal factors associated with birth weight and length and current nutritional status of hospitalized children aged 4-24 months.
abstract: The objective of the present study was to investigate the associations of prenatal factors with birth weight and length, as well as current nutritional status, of children hospitalized in southern Brazil. We conducted a cross-sectional study of 300 child-mother pairs. Children were between 4 and 24 months old. They were at the inpatient unit or pediatric emergency department of the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre. Anthropometric data were collected, and a questionnaire on gestational data was answered by the children's mothers. Maternal variables of interest were: prepregnancy body mass index (BMI), gestational weight gain, smoking and/or use of alcohol, use of illicit drugs, gestational diabetes and/ or high blood pressure. Children's variables of interest were: sex, gestational age, birth weight (BW) and birth length (BL), and current anthropometric data [body mass index for age (BMI/A), height for age (H/A), and weight for age (W/A)]. The gestational weight gain and smoking were associated with BW. We also found that H/A was associated with BW and BL, W/A was associated with BW, and BMI/A was associated with BL. The gestational weight gain was associated with BL, diabetes was associated with BW and BL, and high blood pressure was associated with low height in the first two years of life. We concluded that prenatal factors may have an influence on both BW and BL, causing the birth of small and large for gestational age children, and thus affecting their growth rate during the first years of life.
authors.affiliation: Resident nutritionist, Graduate Program of Multiprofessional Residency in Health, concentration in Child and Adolescent Health of the Hospital de Clínicas Porto Alegre (HCPA), Rio Grande do Sul.. jugiesta@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Juliana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mariante Giesta
authors.affiliation: Resident nutritionist, Graduate Program of Multiprofessional Residency in Health, concentration in Child and Adolescent Health of the Hospital de Clínicas Porto Alegre (HCPA), Rio Grande do Sul.. jugiesta@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Suélen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ramón da Rosa
authors.affiliation: Resident nutritionist, Graduate Program of Multiprofessional Residency in Health, concentration in Child and Adolescent Health of the Hospital de Clínicas Porto Alegre (HCPA), Rio Grande do Sul.. jugiesta@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Juliana Salino
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Moura Pessoa
authors.affiliation: Nutritionist, PhD in Child and Adolescent Health. Professor, Department of Nutrition, School of Medicine, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre. Food and Nutrition Research Centre, HCPA/UFRGS, Porto Alegre.Brazil.. jugiesta@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Vera
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lúcia Bosa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001724:Birth Weight; D001827:Body Height; D001938:Brazil; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D047109:Fetal Development; D005865:Gestational Age; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009752:Nutritional Status; D011247:Pregnancy; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D015430:Weight Gain