Early origin of coronary heart disease

BMJ 1995;310:1468 (3 June)

Letters

Early origin of coronary heart disease

Maternal nutrition in early pregnancy may affect placental ratio

EDITOR,--In their editorial discussing the early origins ofcoronary heart disease Nigel Paneth and Mervyn Susser emphasisethe importance of further investigation of the influences onthe ratio of placental to fetal weight.¹ Godfrey et al haveproposed that iron deficiency has a role since low maternalhaemoglobin concentrations and a decrease in mean red cell volumeduring pregnancy are associated with an increase in the ratio.²In contrast, Perry et al found no relation between maternalhaemoglobin concentrations in early pregnancy and placentalratio at delivery³ but confirmed the positive association betweenthe ratio and maternal body mass index.²

Timing is another important consideration when the influenceof the maternal environment on the developing fetus and placentais studied. Many women start pregnancy with low iron stores,and we hypothesised that placental size would be increased bymid-pregnancy in those . . . [Full text of this article]

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