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Decrease in severity of intrauterine growth retardation in subsequent pregnancies
N Kuno1, A Itakura, O Kurauchi
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.
Objective:
Intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) is likely to recur in a subsequent pregnancy. We investigated the obstetric features of recurrent cases and the severity of IUGR by comparing initial and subsequent deliveries.
Methods:
From a total of 12,567 deliveries, 95 women who were delivered of small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infants and who became pregnant again within 5 years, were enrolled. A retrospective, comparative study of recurrent and non-recurrent groups was performed.
Results:
Twenty-two of ninety-five women gave birth to SGA infants again, and a relatively high risk of recurrence was confirmed, but no single recurrence-associated features were revealed. Within the recurrent group, the degree of IUGR was more severe in only five cases in the subsequent pregnancy.
Conclusions:
IUGR tends to recur, but does not increase in severity in most cases. We conclude that there is no need for excessive concern about the recurrence of IUGR.