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Fetal damage due to maternal phenylketonuria: Effects of dietary treatment and maternal phenylalanine concentrations around the time of conception
Author(s) -
Smith I.,
Glossop J.,
Beasley M.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
journal of inherited metabolic disease
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.462
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1573-2665
pISSN - 0141-8955
DOI - 10.1007/bf01799520
Subject(s) - phenylalanine , gestation , head circumference , endocrinology , pregnancy , medicine , fetus , population , birth weight , biology , amino acid , biochemistry , genetics , environmental health
Summary In 94 infants born to women with PKU, birth weight and head circumference were inversely and linearly related to the mothers' phenylalanine concentrations close to conception; with each 200 µmol/L rise in phenylalanine concentrations, birth weight fell by 98 g and head circumference by 0.46 cm. This relationship was highly significant and appeared to be the same whether or not the mother received a low phenylalanine diet. Even in the 28 infants whose mothers conceived on a strict low phenylalanine diet, birth weights and head circumferences, corrected for sex and gestation, were a little below the population norms (3421 g and 34.7 cm compared with 3600 g and 35.2 cm respectively) although the differences were not statistically significant. Optimal fetal growth occurred only in infants whose mothers had phenylalanine concentrations close to the normal range at conception. Dietary treatment started after conception did not appear to confer any benefit.