Fetal lung and kidney maturation in abnormal pregnancies

A variety of gestational factors have been reported to increase or decrease the incidence of hyaline membrane disease in newborn infants. The purpose of the current study was to determine if some of these factors influence the rate at which fetal lung structures mature. Histologic measures of lung maturation were retarded in some infants with Rh erythroblastosis and in some whose mothers had diabetes mellitus. By contrast, such maturation was accelerated in offspring of some toxemic gestations and in those whose membranes had ruptured before the onset of labor. Congenital bacterial pneumonia with intact membranes did not accelerate maturation. None of the factors that altered lung maturity influenced renal maturation.