Parental Factors Associated with Intrauterine Growth Restriction

Introduction Linear growth failure is caused by multiple factors including parental factors. Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate parental risk factors for intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) on a population of Romanian newborn infants in a tertiary level maternity facility for a period of 2.5 years. Methods A retrospective matched case-control study was conducted in the Emergency County Hospital of Cluj-Napoca, a university hospital in North-Western Romania. The sample was selected from 4,790 infants admitted to the Neonatal Ward at 1(st) Gynecology Clinic between January 2012 and June 2014. Results The age of mothers was significantly lower in the IUGR group compared to controls (p=0.041). A significantly higher percentage of mothers had hypertension in the IUGR group compared to those in the control group (p<0.05). No other significant differences were identified with regard to the investigated characteristics of mothers between IUGR infants compared to controls (p>0.13). The age of fathers of infants with IUGR proved significantly lower compared to controls (p=0.0278). The analysis of infants' comorbidities revealed no significant difference between groups for respiratory distress, hyperbilirubinemia, hypocalcaemia, and heart failure (p>0.27). Intracranial hemorrhage, necrotizing enterocolitis and hypoglycemia were significantly higher in the IUGR group compared to controls, The logistic regression identified hypertension as a significant risk factor for IUGR (OR=2.4, 95% Cl [1.3-4.5]). Conclusion Although the age of the mothers and fathers proved significantly lower in the IUGR group compared to controls, only hypertension in the mothers proved significant risk factors for IUGR.