Abstract
Background and Objectives: Placental, mother, and newborn weight have a complicated relationship with perinatal outcomes. This study aimed to determine the correlation between maternal, newborn, and placental weights.
Methods: A cross-sectional study examined 400 fresh placentas from consecutively delivered, term (37–41 weeks) newborns. Samples were collected from women who delivered at Maternity Teaching Hospital in Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq, between January 2024 and September 2024. Both mothers and their newborns were included in the study. Mean placental weight, birth weight and maternal body mass index were calculated.
Results: The mean participant’s age was 27.8 ± 6.4 years, the median was 27. The largest proportion of women (81%) was aged 20-35, and around two-thirds (62%) were multiparous. The gestational age at delivery was 39-41 weeks among 58.3% of the women, and 69.2% delivered vaginally. The neonatal weight and placental weight characteristics increased with gestational age (P < 0.001). Conversely, no significant variation in the placental birth weight ratio was observed across different gestational age groups. All the parameters of the newborn weight were significantly higher among males than females (p = 0.006). Neither placental weight nor placental birth weight ratio differed significantly between male and female newborns.
Conclusion: Birth weight and placental weight increased with higher gestational age. However, the placental weight ratio did not differ significantly between female and male newborns.