Opinion Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. May 6, 2023; 11(13): 2855-2863
Published online May 6, 2023. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v11.i13.2855
Long-term implications of fetal growth restriction
Martina D'Agostin, Chiara Di Sipio Morgia, Giovanni Vento, Stefano Nobile
Martina D'Agostin, Department of Pediatrics, University of Trieste, Trieste 34100, Italy
Chiara Di Sipio Morgia, Department of Woman and Child Health and Public Health, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome 00168, Italy
Giovanni Vento, Stefano Nobile, Department of Woman and Child Health and Public Health, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS - Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome 000168, Italy
Author contributions: Nobile S conceived the idea for the manuscript; Di Sipio Morgia C, D’Agostin M, and Nobile S reviewed the literature and drafted the manuscript; Di Sipio Morgia C and D’Agostin M contributed equally; Vento G supervised and edited the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Stefano Nobile, MD, MSc, PhD, Instructor, Staff Physician, Department of Woman and Child Health and Public Health, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo Francesco Vito 1, Rome 00168, Italy. stefano.nobile@policlinicogemelli.it
Received: January 27, 2023
Peer-review started: January 27, 2023
First decision: February 17, 2023
Revised: March 8, 2023
Accepted: April 4, 2023
Article in press: April 4, 2023
Published online: May 6, 2023
Processing time: 87 Days and 12.1 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Fetal growth restriction (FGR) is a common complication of pregnancy where the fetus does not achieve its genetic growth potential. It is well known that FGR appears to be a contributing factor for adult chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and hypertension. Several studies demonstrated how suboptimal fetal growth leads to long-lasting physiological alterations for the developing fetus as well as for the newborn and adult in the future. Preventive measures and treatments should be assessed and adopted to prevent chronic diseases in FGR patients.