Placental weight and efficiency in relation to maternal body mass index and the risk of pregnancy complications in women delivering singleton babies
Abstract
Herein we report placental weight and efficiency in relation to maternal BMI and the risk of pregnancy complications in 55,105 pregnancies. Adjusted placental weight increased with increasing BMI through underweight, normal, overweight, obese and morbidly obese categories and accordingly underweight women were more likely to experience placental growth restriction [OR 1.69 (95% CI 1.46-1.95)], while placental hypertrophy was more common in overweight, obese and morbidly obese groups [OR 1.59 (95% CI 1.50-1.69), OR 1.97 (95% CI 1.81-2.15) and OR 2.34 (95% CI 2.08-2.63), respectively]. In contrast the ratio of fetal to placental weight (a proxy for placental efficiency) was lower (P < 0.001) in overweight, obese and morbidly obese than in both normal and underweight women which were equivalent. Relative to the middle tertile reference group (mean 622 g), placental weight in the lower tertile (mean 484 g) was associated with a higher risk of pre-eclampsia, induced labour, spontaneous preterm delivery, stillbirth and low birth weight (P < 0.001). Conversely placental weight in the upper tertile (mean 788 g) was associated with a higher risk of caesarean section, post-term delivery and high birth weight (P < 0.001). With respect to assumed placental efficiency a ratio in the lower tertile was associated with an increased risk of pre-eclampsia, induced labour, caesarean section and spontaneous preterm delivery (P < 0.001) and a ratio in both the lower and higher tertiles was associated with an increased risk of low birth weight (P < 0.001). Placental efficiency was not related to the risk of stillbirth or high birth weight. No interactions between maternal BMI and placental weight tertile were detected suggesting that both abnormal BMI and placental growth are independent risk factors for a range of pregnancy complications.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
There are interactions between the current nutritional environment of the mother and her past nutritional history, as indicated by BMI and body composition, in determining placental phenotype.
“There are also interactions between the current nutritional environment of the mother and her past nutritional history, as indicated by her body mass index (BMI) and body composition, in determining placental phenotype (29,521,527,556).”
From Placental Origins of Chronic Disease (2016) · cites this paper as [556]
Similar increases in placental efficiency are seen in human populations fasting for Ramadan and in underweight women delivering small infants with a small placenta.
“Similar increases in placental efficiency are seen in the human populations fasting for Ramadan and in underweight women delivering small infants with a small placenta (10,556).”
From Placental Origins of Chronic Disease (2016) · cites this paper as [556]
Human placental size is positively related to maternal BMI across the normal spectrum, from underweight to morbidly obese.
“It is also positively related to maternal BMI across the normal spectrum, from the underweight to the morbidly obese (556).”
From Placental Origins of Chronic Disease (2016) · cites this paper as [556]
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 41 · Cited by 163
- Authors
- Wallace, J. M., Horgan, G. W., & Bhattacharya, S.
- Affiliations
- University of Aberdeen (GB)
- Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland (GB)
- Aberdeen Maternity Hospital (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Wallace, J.M.
- Venue
- Placenta
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2012-08
- Volume
- 33
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 611-618
- ISSN
- 0143-4004 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1997022295
- Cited by
- 163
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 14.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Placenta (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Scottish Government
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Obstetrics and Gynecology › Pregnancy and preeclampsia studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Obstetrics and Gynecology › Gestational Diabetes Research and Management
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Birth, Development, and Health
- Keywords
- placental weight, placental efficiency, maternal body mass index, maternal obesity, placental growth restriction, placental hypertrophy, pregnancy complications, preeclampsia, preterm birth, low birth weight, cesarean section, labor induction, stillbirth, singleton pregnancy
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Female, United Kingdom, Humans, Hypertrophy, Obesity, Obesity, Morbid, Organ Size, Placenta, Placental Insufficiency, Placentation, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Complications, Retrospective Studies, Risk Factors, Thinness, Cohort Studies, Databases, Factual, Overweight, Young Adult
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
