| Summary: | Aim: To investigate the effect of maternal age and smoking on fetal development in the fetal period. Patients and Method: 914 pregnant women aged between 17-41 (mean age: 27.05 ± 5.75) were included in the study, with gestational week between 11-40 weeks. Pregnant women were categorized five different classes according to their age which includes those who are under or equal to 20 years old, those between 21 and 25 years old, those between 26 and 30 years old, between 31 and 35 years old and greater than 35 years old. Additionally, they were divided into two groups as smokers and non-smokers. Then, variables of fetuses’ weight, head circumference (HC), bi-parietal diameter (BPD), abdominal circumference (AC), femur length (FL) were taken. Results: The mean and standard deviations of all variables taken during the fetal period were calculated for each gestational week, trimester, month, maternal age and smoking. There was a significant correlation between all variables and gestational age (p <0.001). When fetal biometric variables which were taken during pregnancy were compared to trimesters and months, it was observed that there was a statistical difference among the groups (p<0.05). Moreover, in the comparison of age(excluding some age groups) and smoking groups, it was seen that there was not a statistical difference among the groups (p>0.05).
Conclusion: Maternal age and smoking are important maternal factors affecting fetal variables in the fetal period. As a result of our study, we observed that maternal age smoking affect fetal variables. We think that the results obtained from our study will help to evaluate the effects of maternal age and smoking on fetal variables in the fetal period.
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