Kaneko K, Ito Y, Ebara T, et al. - Findings suggested an association of maternal serum total cholesterol (maternal TC) levels in mid-pregnancy with small for gestational age (SGA) or large for gestational age (LGA) in Japanese. Mid-pregnancy maternal TC may aid in the prediction of SGA and LGA. It is necessary to investigate maternal lipid profiles that are favorable for fetal development.

• The sample consisted of 37,449 non-diabetic, non-hypertensive mothers with singleton birth at term without congenital abnormalities.

• At the time of blood sampling, the average gestational age was 22.7 ± 4.0 weeks.

• After adjustment for maternal age, child sex, parity, weight gain during pregnancy, pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI), smoking, alcohol consumption, blood glucose levels, household income, and Study Areas, one standard deviation decrease in maternal TC was found to be linearly related to SGA.

• In contrast, one standard deviation increase in maternal TC was associated with LGA in a linear fashion.

• The associations were not different based on pre-pregnancy BMI or gestational weight gain.