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Clinical Summary

Does gestational dyslipidaemia influence birth outcomes?

Takeaway

  • This meta-analysis suggests that throughout pregnancy, low maternal high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and high triglycerides (TG) levels are positively associated with neonatal birthweight.
  • Potential under-recognised adverse effects of maternal dyslipidaemia may warrant further investigation into the association between maternal dyslipidaemia and birthweight in large prospective cohorts or in randomised trials.

Why this matters

  • Findings are of clinical importance in considering the management of gestational dyslipidaemia, e.g. using omega-3 fatty acid supplementation and lifestyle interventions to improve maternal and neonatal outcomes.

Study design

  • 42 studies involving 31402 pregnancies met eligibility criteria after a search on PubMed, Embase, MEDLINE, Scopus, CINAHL Plus and Cochrane library (CENTRAL).
  • Funding: National Natural Science Foundation of China and others.

Key results

  • Maternal HDL-C showed an inverse association with birthweight, particularly in the third trimester (adjusted regression coefficients [aRC], -70.17 g mmol-1 L-1, P<.001).
  • Increased maternal TG levels were significantly associated with birthweight for the first trimester (aRC, 86.72 g mmol-1 L-1, P<.001) and T3 (aRC, 89.58 g mmol-1 L-1, P=.01).
  • Pooled estimates for increasing maternal HDL-C level was associated with decreased odds of large for gestational age (LGA) (OR, 0.77; P=.06) and significantly increased odds of small for gestational age (SGA) (OR, 1.96; P=.04).
  • Increased maternal TG levels revealed increased odds of LGA (OR, 1.08; P=.02) and decreased odds of SGA (OR, 0.66; P=.007).

Limitations

  • Heterogeneity among included studies.

References


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