That is the conclusion reached by a study by researchers from the Ohio Prematurity Research Center of the March of Dimes Foundation in the United States, after analyzing 3,485 Nordic women and their babies. They found that Lower women have shorter pregnancies, smaller babies, and an increased risk of preterm birth..
They believe that, although the length of the baby at birth and the weight are influenced by the transmitted genes, for some environmental reason that has not yet been identified, maternal size influences the duration of pregnancy and the frequency of prematurity.
That is, the height of a woman influences the duration of pregnancy, regardless of whether the genes she transmits determine the size of the baby (if she is short, it is likely that her baby also has a small size).
Premature births increased 36% in the last 20 years and scientists are concerned about finding the possible risk factors that are contributing to this increase.
Many will say, "I'm 1.50 and my baby was born in week 42". The study does not establish a direct cause-effect relationship, but it has been found among the cases studied, a link between the mother's height and the duration of pregnancy.
The study does not specify the height of the women studied or how much the duration of pregnancy has been reduced, but the authors assure that this new finding adds a small piece towards the solution of a much larger puzzle of premature birth.
It is impossible to know for sure why premature birth is triggered, since there are various situations that increase the risk that pregnancy will not come to term as genetic, environmental factors, diseases of the mother, and complications such as preeclampsia, complications in the placenta or malformations in the uterus.
There is still much to discover, but it is a good starting point to achieve the goal of identifying the genes that govern fetal growth and the duration of pregnancy.
