Clinical associations to abnormal umbilical cord length in Latin American newborns.
BACKGROUND
Umbilical cord is vital to fetal development and its alterations are related to fetal and neonatal deaths and to late neurological complications. Abnormal cord length has been recognized as the most important cord feature leading to unfavorable outcomes. We aimed to examine the relationship between fetal abnormalities and the length of umbilical cord using the ECLAMC (Estudio Colaborativo Latinoamericano de Malformaciones Congénitas/Latin American Collaborative Study on Congenital Malformations) database.


METHODS
Using ECLAMC case-control registries, we conducted an observational study on the relationship between umbilical cord length and clinical variables such as chromosomal abnormalities and neonatal malformations.


RESULTS
Birth registries totaled 61820; of them 3411 had complete cord data. Abnormal length was found in 427, with 174 short (5.10%) cords and 253 long (7.41%) cords. No relation was found between abnormal cord length and gender, parity or parents' age. More abnormal length cords were found than reported in other series; unexpectedly, more long cords were observed in twin gestations. It was observed that among short cords (174), 105 were from newborns with some type of malformation and 69 with no malformation (OR = 2.92, CI (95%) 2.15-3.98, p = 0.0001); of the 253 long cords, 168 had malformation and only 85 did not (OR = 3.80, CI (95%) 2.91-4.96, p = 0.0001).


CONCLUSIONS
Abnormal cord length is associated with fetal malformation. Further studies are needed to determine the clinical applicability of using this parameter in counseling during prenatal visits.
Department of Pathology, The Medical School, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana- San Ignacio University Hospital, Bogota, Colombia.
M
M
Olaya-C
Institute of Human Genetics, The Medical School, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogota, Colombia.
J E
JE
Bernal
D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus / Q000098:blood supply; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007232:Infant, Newborn, Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology*; D007843:Latin America; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D014470:Umbilical Cord / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000473:pathology*
IUGR; Stillbirth; cord accidents; fetal thrombotic vasculopathy; intrauterine growth restriction