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Updated: May 4, 2026

The 4-vessel Sampling Approach to Integrative Studies of Human Placental Physiology In Vivo
Published on: August 2, 2017
Association between first-trimester placental volume and birth weight
M Effendi1, S Demers2, Y Giguère3
1Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada.
Objective:
To estimate the correlation between first-trimester placental volume, birth weight, small-for-gestational-age (SGA), and preeclampsia.
Methods:
A prospective study of women with singleton pregnancy at 11-13 weeks of gestation was conducted. First-trimester placental volume was measured using three-dimensional ultrasound and reported as multiple of median (MoM) for gestational age. Participants were followed until delivery where birth weight, placental weight, and occurrence of preeclampsia were collected. Non-parametric analyses were performed.
Results:
We reached a complete follow-up for 543 eligible women. First-trimester placental volume was significantly correlated with birth weight (correlation coefficient: 0.18; p < 0.0001) and placental weight (cc: 0.22; p < 0.0001) adjusted for gestational age. First-trimester placental volume was smaller in women who delivered SGA neonates (median MoM: 0.79; interquartile range: 0.62-1.00; p < 0.001) and greater in women who delivered large-for-gestational-age neonates (median MoM: 1.13; 0.95-1.49; p < 0.001) when compared to women with neonates between the 10th and 90th percentile (median MoM: 1.00; 0.81-1.25). First-trimester placental volume was not associated with the risk of preeclampsia (cc: 0.01; p = 0.87).
Conclusion:
First-trimester placental volume is strongly associated with fetal and placental growth. However, we did not observe a correlation between placental volume and the risk of preeclampsia.
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