Abstract
Low birth weight is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality among newborns, and may result from impaired placental function during the first trimester of pregnancy1. Here we show that the risk of delivering a low-birth-weight baby at term after an uncomplicated pregnancy varies with maternal circulating concentrations of a placental protein, pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) in the first 10 weeks after conception. Poor fetal growth may therefore already have been determined by the time obstetric monitoring begins after completion of the first trimester.
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Smith, G., Stenhouse, E., Crossley, J. et al. Early-pregnancy origins of low birth weight. Nature 417, 916 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/417916a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/417916a
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