The Association Between Maternal Fat-Soluble Vitamin Concentrations During Pregnancy And Infant Birth Weight In China

Fat-soluble vitamins during pregnancy are important for fetal growth and development. The present study aimed at exploring the association between vitamin A, E and D status during pregnancy and birth weight. A total of 19 640 women with singleton deliveries from a retrospective study were included. Data were collected by the hospital electronic information system. Maternal serum vitamin A, E and D concentrations were measured during pregnancy. Logistic regression was performed to estimate the association between the vitamin status and low birth weight (LBW) or macrosomia. Women with excessive vitamin E were more likely to have macrosomia (OR 1 center dot 30, 95 % CI 1 center dot 07, 1 center dot 59) compared with adequate concentration. When focusing on Z scores, there was a positive association between vitamin E and macrosomia in the first (OR 1 center dot 07, 95 % CI 1 center dot 00, 1 center dot 14), second (OR 1 center dot 27, 95 % CI 1 center dot 11, 1 center dot 46) and third (OR 1 center dot 28, 95 % CI 1 center dot 06, 1 center dot 54) trimesters; vitamin A was positively associated with LBW in the first (OR 1 center dot 14, 95 % CI 1 center dot 01, 1 center dot 29), second (OR 1 center dot 31, 95 % CI 1 center dot 05, 1 center dot 63) and third (OR 2 center dot 00, 95 % CI 1 center dot 45, 2 center dot 74) trimesters and negatively associated with macrosomia in the second (OR 0 center dot 79, 95 % CI 0 center dot 70, 0 center dot 89) and third (OR 0 center dot 77, 95 % CI 0 center dot 62, 0 center dot 95) trimesters. The study identified that high concentrations of vitamin E are associated with macrosomia. Maintaining a moderate concentration of vitamin A during pregnancy might be beneficial to achieve optimal birth weight. Further studies to explore the mechanism of above associations are warranted.