Placental weight and its relationship with the birth weight of term infants and body mass index of the mothers

OBJECTIVE: Placental pathology is a well-known cause of perinatal and neonatal mortality and morbidity, and may correlate with placental growth, which can be assessed indirectly by anthropometric placental measurements. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate mean placental weight and its relationship with birthweight and maternal body mass index (BMI). METHODS: Fresh (not formalin fixed) consecutively delivered placentae of term newborns (37–42 weeks), collected between February 2022 and August 2022, and the mothers and newborns, were included. Mean placental weight, birthweight and maternal BMI were calculated. Pearson’s correlation coefficient, linear regression, and one-way analysis of variance were used to analyse continuous and categorical data. RESULTS: Out of 390 samples, 211 placentae (with 211 newborns and mothers) were included in this study after exclusion criteria were applied. Mean placental weight was 494.45 ± 110.39 g, and mean term birth weight/placental weight ratio was 6.21 ± 1.21 (range, 3.35–11.62 g). Placental weight was positively correlated with birthweight and maternal BMI, but not with newborn sex. Linear regression effect estimation of placental weight on birthweight revealed a medium correlation (R(2) = 0.212; formula, 1.4553 × X + 2246.7, where X is placental weight [g]). CONCLUSION: Placental weight was revealed to positively correlate with birthweight and maternal BMI.