Aortic intima-media thickness and aortic diameter in small for gestational age and growth restricted fetuses.

• Main Authors: M Dolores Gomez-Roig, Edurne Mazarico, Esther Valladares, Laura Guirado, Mireia Fernandez-Arias, Antonio Vela
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2015-01-01
• Series: PLoS ONE
• Online Access: http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4446260?pdf=render
• ISSN: 1932-6203

The objective of this study is to measure aortic intima-media thickness (aIMT) and aortic diameter (AD) in appropriate for gestational age (AGA) fetuses, small for gestational age (SGA) fetuses, and intrauterine growth restricted (IUGR) fetuses.Case-control study performed between June 2011 and June 2012. Forty-nine AGA fetuses, 40 SGA fetuses, and 35 IUGR fetuses underwent concomitant measurement of aIMT and AD at a mean gestational age of 34.4 weeks.Median aIMT was higher in fetuses with IUGR (0.504 mm [95%CI: 0.477-0.530 mm]), than in SGA fetuses (0.466 mm [95% CI: 0.447-0.485 mm]), and AGA fetuses (0.471 mm [95% CI: 0.454-0.488 mm]) (p = 0.023). Mean AD was significantly lower in fetuses with IUGR (4.451 mm [95% CI: 4.258-4.655 mm]), than in AGA fetuses (4.74 mm [95% CI: 4.63-4.843 mm]) (p = 0.028).Growth restricted fetuses have a thicker aortic wall than AGA and SGA fetuses, which possibly represents preclinical atherosclerosis and a predisposition to later cardiovascular disease.