Indicators of maternal nutritional status and birth weight in term deliveries

Objective: To determine the relationship between measures of maternal protein nutriture and fetal size at birth. Methods: We obtained serum samples at 18 and 30 weeks’ gestation from 289 indigent multiparous women. The concentrations of albumin, prealbumin, and retinol-binding protein were correlated with birth weight, fetal growth retardation, and other measures of nutritional status. Results: Serum albumin levels at 18 weeks correlated inversely with birth weight (P =.05). This negative correlation was explained by an inverse relationship between albumin concentration and maternal body mass index (BMI), and disappeared in a regression analysis adjusting for BMI. There was no significant correlation between albumin levels at 30 weeks and birth weight or between birth weight and the concentrations of the other two proteins at either gestational age. In individual subjects, the concentration of each protein correlated significantly with the concentration of the other proteins, and the levels at 18 weeks correlated with those at 30 weeks. Conclusion: Serum protein levels are not predictive of birth weight or growth retardation at birth, but do correlate significantly with a number of other measures of nutritional status.