Background: The aim of the present study was to determine whether newborn birth weights were associated with insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I), zinc, and leptin in preeclamptic and normotensive pregnancies.
Methods: This study was done cross-sectionally and included 15 women with moderate preeclampsia (PE group) and 11 normotensive pregnant women (NT group) of similar gestational age. Maternal and umbilical cord serum levels of zinc, IGF-I, IGF binding proteins (IGFBPs), leptin, and placental zinc were assessed in each group.
Results: As compared with the NT group, the PE group had significantly (p <0.05) lower newborn birth weight [3.33 (3.11-3.55) vs. 2.80 (2.40-3.17) kg], maternal IGF-I [303 (276-364) vs. 198 (153-244) ng/mL], and umbilical IGF-I [87 (71-126) vs. 44 (26-98) ng/mL]. In addition, low IGFBP-3 and high IGFBP-1 were observed in the PE group. In the PE group, birth weight correlated positively with placental zinc (rho = 0.56, p = 0.04), maternal IGF-I (rho = 0.76, p = 0.004), umbilical cord IGF-I (rho = 0.75, p = 0.005), and umbilical cord leptin (rho = 0.61, p = 0.02) levels. Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that among these variables, umbilical IGF-I was the major predictor of birth weight. In the NT group, birth weight did not correlate with any of these variables.
Conclusions: The present study indicates that moderate preeclampsia is associated with low newborn birth weight, IGF-I, IGFBP-3, and high IGFBP-1 without significant changes in zinc and leptin levels. In addition, umbilical IGF-I was the major predictor of newborn birth weight.