Timing is everything
A reconsideration of fetal growth velocity patterns identifies the importance of individual and sex differences
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19458998 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michelle Lampl (Emory University, corresponding author), Philippe Jeanty |
| Year | 2003 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 667-680 |
| Publication date | 2003-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Journal of Human Biology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1042-0533 • E-ISSN: 1520-6300 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/ajhb.10204 |
| PMID | 12953179 |
| OpenAlex | W2006861999 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 15 |
| References cited | 47 |
Fetal growth has been posited to follow a “timing hypothesis” sequence in which the second trimester favors a single growth velocity peak in body length and the third trimester accommodates a single growth velocity peak in weight accrual. To our knowledge, this proposition has never been tested with high‐frequency longitudinal ultrasound data from normally growing human fetuses. The present study examined whether fetal growth in leg length had its peak velocity at or about 20–26 gestational weeks and declined subsequently and whether estimated fetal weight velocity was maximal at or about 33 weeks and declined subsequently; if the greatest acquisition of leg length occurred in the second trimester and weight in the third trimester; and if birth outcomes reflected these relationships. The data in this study included approximately weekly longitudinal ultrasound data collected from 44 maternal/fetal pairs in Brussels, Belgium. Diaphyseal lengths of the femur and tibia provided information on leg growth and estimated fetal weight was assessed from the biparietal and occipital‐frontal head diameters and transverse and anterior–posterior diameters of the abdomen. Growth patterns were investigated from individual growth curves derived from daily growth velocity z‐scores. Paired t ‐tests compared individuals' trimestral increments in leg length and fetal weight. Least‐squares regression models employing the robust procedure for repeated measurements were used to test for relationships between trimester, size, growth rates, and birth outcome, controlling for day of measurement, sex, maternal smoking, and gestational age at birth. The normal fetuses in this study grew by pulsatile patterns of leg and estimated weight acquisition, not a single peak and decline process. Greater incremental growth in estimated fetal weight occurred during the second trimester and leg length in the third trimester. Individual and sex effects were significant in growth velocity patterns. Girls grew with greater synchrony between leg and weight growth and were accelerated by comparison with boys, with faster leg growth predicting lower ponderal index by the second trimester. Birth outcomes were sex‐specific in timing effects and predictive variables. These results support the importance of sex‐specific analyses, reemphasize the common notion that girls grow faster than boys, and direct attention to cross‐talk between energy resources and growth. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 15:667–680, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc
Biology · Biparietal diameter · Birth weight · Cardiology · Fetal growth · Fetus · Gestation · Gestational age · Head circumference · Obstetrics · Pregnancy · Pulsatile flow · Ultrasound · Birth, Development, and Health · Gestational Diabetes Research and Management · Medicine · Pregnancy and preeclampsia studies · Anatomy
Association of birth weight and length with air temperature, sunlight, humidity and rainfall in the city of Warsaw, Poland
Childhood health as reflected in adult urban and rural samples from medieval Denmark
The Bioarchaeology of Children
A Life Course Approach to Chronic Disease Epidemiology
Trade-Offs in Relative Limb Length among Peruvian Children
Sex differences in anxiety and depression clinical perspectives
Severe skeletal lesions, osteopenia and growth deficit in a child with pulmonary tuberculosis (mid-20th century, Portugal)
Advancing sex estimation from amelogenin
The “pregnant mummy” from Warsaw reassessed
Tradeoffs between oxygen and energy in tibial growth at high altitude
Exposure to maternal diabetes is associated with altered fetal growth patterns
Smoking during pregnancy and components of stature in offspring
Relationship Between Type of Delivery and Growth Trajectory in the First Year of Life
Season of birth influences the timing of first menstruation
Brief and precarious lives
Size at Birth Predicts Age at Menarche
Saltation and Stasis
Fetal origins of coronary heart disease
On the importance—and the unimportance— of birthweight
Growth in utero, blood pressure in childhood and adult life, and mortality from cardiovascular disease.
Timing of the influence of maternal nutritional status during pregnancy on fetal growth
The timing of maternal weight gain during pregnancy and fetal growth
The timing hypothesis and body proportionality of the intra-uterine growth retarded infant
Prenatal smoke exposure alters growth in limb proportions and head shape in the midgestation human fetus
Leg length, insulin resistance, and coronary heart disease risk
Prenatal ultrasound biometry related to subsequent blood pressure in childhood
Early growth and abdominal fatness in adult life
| Unique citing works | 15 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,68 |
| Citation span | 2004 - 2025 (22) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 13 |