Abstract

The dimension of delivered placentae mirrors the cumulative growth of the placenta from conception to parturition. Placental weight is the gross summary of fetal growth under the influence of many extrinsic and intrinsic factors. Hence, the present study evaluated the influence of gestation, sex of the newborn, and parity on feto-placental ratio. The study was conducted on 391 placentae of singleton newborn from a teaching hospital of North Karnataka, India. Data was collected from August 2012 to January 2013 by using standard operating procedures. The Mean and standard deviations of placental morphometry, weight and birth weight are 440 ± 100gm and 2700±500 gm respectively. In gestational age 28 to 32 weeks, the feto-placental ratio was 5.61:1; this increased consistently up to 6.19:1 with increasing gestation group 37 weeks and above. Feto-placental ratio increased with increasing groups of gestational age. Feto-placental ratio in <37 weeks of gestation was in favor of primipara (6.0:1) whereas, the similar figures in term babies was more in multipara (6.3:1). The paritywise feto-placental ratio direction changed from preterm to term babies, but the differences were not statistically significant. However, irrespective of gestation, multipara had higher feto-placental ratio (6.2:1) as compared to primipara (6.1:1). However, irrespective of gestation, males had higher feto-placental ratio (6.2:1) as compared to females (6.1:1). Feto-placental ratio is influenced by variates of pregnancy like gestation, sex of the newborn and parity. Hence, variations in any of these factors lead to adverse pregnancy outcome by deviation of feto-placental ratio.

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