PEDIATRICS Vol. 48 No. 6 December 1971, pp. 871-882
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MATERNAL TOXEMIA, FETAL MALNUTRITION, AND MOTOR BEHAVIOR OF THE NEWBORN

F. J. Schulte M.D.1, Gerlind Schrempf Cand. Med.1, and Gabriele Hinze Cand. Med.1

1 Department of Pediatrics, University of Göttingen, West Germany

Twenty-one small-for-gestational-age newborn infants of toxemic mothers had normal nerve conduction velocities indicating normal peripheral nerve myelinization. Muscle tone and general excitability were lower than normal, resembling in some respects the motor behavior of preterm infants. Thus, neonatal motor behavior is unsuitable for a conceptional age estimate in small-for-gestational-age infants of toxemic mothers. In the infants of this study, the abnormal motor behavior was not due to symptomatic hypoglycemia, neonatal asphyxia, or any other overt postnatal illness. The maturation of the fetal nervous system was adversely affected by maternal toxemia and intra-uterine malnutrition.

Submitted on December 17, 1970
Accepted on June 7, 1971