Abstract
This study investigates the relationship between maternal biological, nutritional, and socio-demographic variables as they relate to intra-uterine growth retardation (IUGR) in 162 women who delivered in a maternal and child centre in Mexico City. Data were obtained through a questionnaire administered to each woman after her infant was born. The mothers’ height, arm and head circumferences, and skinfolds were measured after delivery. Infants were defined as having IUGR if their gestational age was 37 weeks or over and their birth weight was at or below the 10th percentile of a sex-specific birth weight-gestational age distribution of a reference population. Infants whose gestational age was 37 weeks or over and whose birth weight was above the 10th percentile of the reference population distribution were defined as having normal birth weight. Overall, maternal risk factors associated with past and current nutritional status were associated with IUGR, but social factors were not. Logistic regression analysis showed that height, positive dietary changes during pregnancy, and past spontaneous abortions during the second trimester were significantly related to IUGR.