Key result
Higher mid-pregnancy maternal heart rate linked to ~92 g higher birthweight.
Why the study?
The study was conducted to evaluate the association between birthweight and maternal heart rate or heart rate variability under resting conditions at 20-24 gestational weeks and 34 weeks or later.
Does higher maternal heart rate improve birthweight in pregnant women?
Cohort (n=5,655)
Does higher maternal heart rate improve birthweight in pregnant women?
Absolute Event Rate: 3032% vs 2940%
p-value: p=<0.05
Low maternal heart rate in early pregnancy is associated with lower neonatal birthweight and may help identify pregnancies at risk of poor fetal growth.
May flag low-birthweight risk via maternal heart rate at 20-24 weeks; leaves open causality and requires prospective validation before clinical use.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between birthweight and maternal heart rate (MHR) or heart rate variability (HRV) under resting conditions at 20-24 gestational weeks and 34 weeks or later (34+ weeks). METHODS: Data were retrospectively reviewed from the Safe Passage Study, a prospective longitudinal cohort study of alcohol use in pregnancy and birth outcomes in Cape Town, South Africa, between August 2007 and January 2015. Using custom-designed software, MHR and indicators of HRV were obtained from the recorded maternal electrocardiograms and compared with birthweight and z-scores of birthweight adjusted for gestation and gender. RESULTS: Data from 5655 women were included. MHR increased from 84.6 bpm at 20-24 weeks to 88.3 bpm at 34+ weeks. Increasing MHR from 70-80 to 80-90 and 90-100 bpm at 20-24 weeks was associated with increasing birthweight from 2940 to 2998 and 3032 g, respectively (P<0.05). MHR and HRV contributed 29% to the variability associated with birthweight, whereas maternal body mass index at recruitment contributed 44%. Similar associations were observed for MHR at 34+ weeks. CONCLUSION: The observed association of low maternal heart rate with birthweight might help to identify pregnancies at risk of poor fetal growth.
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Odendaal et al. (2019) conducted a cohort in Pregnancy / Fetal Growth (n=5,655). Higher maternal heart rate (MHR) vs. Lower maternal heart rate was evaluated on Birthweight (p=<0.05). Increasing maternal heart rate from 70-80 bpm to 90-100 bpm at 20-24 gestational weeks was significantly associated with an increase in birthweight from 2940 g to 3032 g.
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