Maternal and Neonatal Determinants of Neonatal Lipid Profiles among Small for Gestational Age and Appropriate For Gestational Age Infants: A Cross Sectional Study

Resumen

Neonatal lipid profiles are believed to be a good indicator of metabolic programming of the fetus and can be used to predict the future risks associated with cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. The maternal health states and maternal infant growth (especially the infants who are small in comparison to birth weight, or the infants who are small in comparison to their gestational age) may influence the mothers and newborn lipid metabolism dependencies. A cross-sectional study was carried out within a hospital based on the sample of 200 mother-infant pairs which included 100 infants with SGA and 100 infants with appropriate gestational age (AGA). Anthropometric measurements of the neonatal, maternal demographic and clinical variables were acquired. To identify total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and very low density lipoprotein (VLDL), umbilical cord blood samples were measured. Techniques used in statistical tests were independent t-tests, correlation test and multiple linear regression. The hypothetical findings demonstrated that SGA infants had significantly higher mean total cholesterol (78.4 ± 12.6 mg/dL vs. 70.8 ± 10.5 mg/dL), triglycerides (62.7 ± 11.3 mg/dL vs. 54.1 ± 9.4 mg/dL), LDL (35.8 ± 8.4 mg/dL vs. 28.7 ± 7.5 mg/dL), and VLDL (12.5 ± 2.4 mg/dL vs. 10.8 ± 2.1 mg/dL) than AGA infants (all p < 0.001), while HDL levels were significantly lower (31.2 ± 5.2 mg/dL vs. 36.5 ± 5.8 mg/dL, p < 0.001). It turned out that the most effective independent predictor of neonatal total cholesterol was birth weight (48= -.38, p < 0.001) and the regression model explained 48% of the variation in the level of cholesterol (R 2 = 0.48). These theoretical outcomes suggest that the maternal health and newborn developmental traits have overall huge implications on neonatal lipid profiles where SGA infants have a worse lipid profile as compared to AGA infants. Timely screening of infants at risk can help to implement specific interventions aimed at decreasing cardiometabolic risk in adulthood.