It seems that there is a study for everything these days, and this latest one from the Nordic countries has thrown out some rather unusual results.

 

A team of researchers at the Centre for Prevention of Preterm Birth at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital has found that mothers who are shorter in height have shorter pregnancies, smaller babies and a higher risk for preterm births.

 

The study, published in the journal PLOS Medicine, was carried out across nearly 3,500 mums and their babies in Finland, Denmark and Norway.

 

While the differences were small – an increase of one centimetre in height translated to about 0.4 gestational days – the lead expert said the findings are very significant.

 

 

Dr Louis Muglia observed: “The relatively shorter you were [in the study], the relatively shorter your pregnancy was. This was manifested in each of the three populations.”

 

“Our study suggests it is the mum’s height itself that is helping to determine the length of gestation. It’s part of the equation,” he added.

 

Highlighting the importance of the new findings, Dr Muglia added that doctors need to ensure that shorter women are paying particular attention to maintaining proper weight gain, nutrition and medical care during their pregnancies.

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