Changes in placental weight-to-birth weight ratio in cases of fetal congenital heart disease
25.08.2025
13:07
Russian researchers conducted a study aimed to analysis of placental weight-to-birth weight ratio in healthy full-term newborns and in babies born with congenital heart disease (CHD).
A comparative analysis of newborns’ weight, placental weight and placental weight-to-birth weight ratio was conducted between the main group, which comprised 100 observations with prenatally diagnosed fetal CHD and the control group, which included 100 healthy newborns.
In the studied groups, there were no statistically significant differences in birth weight. Placental weight was significantly lower in the group with CHD, compared with the control group. Placental weight-to-birth weight ratio was 0.14 (the 25th percentile) versus 0.15 (the 50th percentile) (p<0.001), as well as there was lower frequency of observations with placental weight-to-birth weight ratio less than the 10th percentile – 31% and 9% (p<0.001), respectively.
The observations showed that there was a disproportionate reduction in placental weight in relation to the newborn’s weight in the group with fetal CHD compared with the control group of healthy children, that may be a pathogenetic basis for a high incidence of post-hypoxic complications in this cohort of patients.
