PCOS may restrict growth in offspring

Babies born to mothers with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are smaller in terms of birth weight and length as well as head circumference, according to a study.

The study included 390 pregnant women with PCOS (mean age 29.6 years) from three clinical trials and a reference population that comprised 68,708 women (mean age 30.4 years) in the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort (MoBa) Study.

Researchers evaluated newborn birth weight, birth length, and head circumference as continuous variables and z scores, and ponderal index, placenta weight, and ratio of birth weight to placenta weight (BWPW).

Compared with offspring in the reference group, offspring in the PCOS group had lower birth weight (estimated mean difference in z score, −0.26, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], −0.38 to −0.14), birth length (estimated mean difference in z score, −0.19, 95 percent CI, −0.33 to −0.05), and head circumference (estimated mean difference in z score, −0.13, 95 percent CI, −0.26 to −0.01).

The PCOS group also had a lower ponderal index (−0.04 g × 100/cm3, 95 percent CI, −0.07 to −0.004), lower placenta weight (−24 g, 95 percent CI, −43 to −5), and higher BWPW ratio (0.4, 95 percent CI, 0.3–0.5]).

Notably, the growth restriction observed with maternal PCOS increased in an analysis that additionally adjusted for BMI. Meanwhile, neither PCOS phenotype nor gestational diabetes diagnosis contributed to neonatal anthropometry in women with PCOS.