Maternal Visceral Adipose Tissue and Risk of Having a Small or Large for Gestational Age Infant

Objective: To determine whether first-trimester visceral adipose tissue (VAT) depth is associated with small-for-gestational-age (SGA; <10 percentile) or large-for-gestational-age (LGA; >90 percentile) birthweight, including when taking into consideration ethnicity-specific birthweight curves.

Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study involving 452 women with a singleton livebirth. Maternal VAT depth was measured by ultrasound at 11 to 14 weeks gestation. Newborn weight was plotted on population-based and ethnicity-specific birthweight percentile curves. Modelling was performed using linear and logistic regression, adjusting for parity, smoking status, and weight gain.

Results: Mean maternal age was 32.9 ± 4.7 years, and mean VAT depth was 4.1 ± 1.7 cm. Using a population-based curve, each 1-cm increase in VAT depth was associated with a 1.5 (95% CI 0.03-3.0) higher birthweight percentile. Taking into account ethnicity-specific curves, a 1-cm higher VAT depth was associated with a 1.7 (95% CI 0.02-3.3) greater birthweight percentile. Using a population-based curve, comparing VAT depth Q4 with VAT depth Q1-3, the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) for LGA was 1.9 (95% CI 0.8-4.1); with ethnicity-specific curves, the aOR for LGA was 1.5 (95% CI 0.7-3.2). The aOR for SGA was 0.8 (95% CI 0.4 to 1.7) comparing Q1 with Q2-4 VAT depth.

Conclusion: Higher first-trimester maternal VAT depth was associated with a somewhat greater newborn weight percentile, which varies by which birthweight curve is used. There were marginally higher odds of giving birth to an LGA infant for women in highest quartile for VAT depth, with no evident association with SGA.