The Associations between Maternal Complete Blood Cell Count Indices with Foetal Intrauterine Growth Restriction: A Case–control Study

Abstract Introduction: Evidence regarding the prognostic value of maternal Complete blood cell count (CBC) with foetal growth during pregnancy is lacking. Literature has shown that maternal hem constriction has been linked to pre-eclampsia. As well, preeclampsia, placental abruption and Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) share the same pathophysiology. This study wish investigate whether there is an association between maternal CBC indices and IUGR. A potential association may help physicians for early diagnosis and to establish a path for more rapid screening. Materials and Methods: The current case-control study was conducted on pregnant women admitted in the Baqiyatallah Hospital, Obstetrics ward from 2017 to 2022. The case group included pregnancies complicated with IUGR and the control group consisted of pregnant women with appropriate foetal growth. The two case and control groups were matched for variables such as patient age, gestational age, parity, miscarriage history and successful pregnancies. The specific biochemical variable of interest in this study was the complete blood count (CBC. diff) test. To determine the simultaneous effect of the investigated variables and the occurrence of IUGR, logistic regression was employed. Results: In this study, 90 cases (36.1%) and 146 (63.9%) controls were compared. There was not any significant difference between the two groups in terms of maternal age ( P = 0.87), gestational age ( P = 0.78), gravidity ( P = 0.84), parity ( P = 0.88), the number of previous miscarriages ( P = 0.70) and live birth ( P = 0.85). However, the mean counts of white blood cell WBC ( P < 0.001), neutrophils ( P < 0.001), lymphocytes ( P = 0.038), haemoglobin ( P = 0.047) and haematocrit ( P = 0.037), and platelet counts ( P = 0.002) were statistically higher in the case group. Logistic regression also showed WBC was correlated with IUGR occurrence (odds ratio: 1.306, confidence interval: 1.12–1.52, P = 0.001). Conclusion: In the third trimester of pregnancy, an increase of the leucocyte counts is associated with an increase in chance of having IUGR. Other variables from the complete blood test did not exhibit any significant associations in this regard.