Increased pregnancy weight gain in women with latent toxoplasmosis and RhD-positivity protection against this effect
Kanková S., Sulc J., Flegr J.
Parasitology 2010; 137: 1773-1779
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Objective.
RhD-positive subjects are protected against toxoplasmosis-associated impairment of psychomotor
performance. Here we searched for RhD-positivity-associated maternal protection against the e
ff
ects of toxoplasmosis.
Methods.
In the present retrospective cohort study, we analysed data from 785 (139 RhD-negative)
Toxoplasma
-free
and 194 (27 RhD-negative)
Toxoplasma
-infected pregnant women. We searched for e
ff
ects of toxoplasmosis and Rhd-
phenotype on maternal weight before pregnancy, pregnancy weight gain, fetal ultrasound data (biparietal diameter,
abdominal circumference, femur length) and on birth length and weight.
Results.
At pregnancy week 16, the RhD-negative
mothers with toxoplasmosis gained more weight than others (
P
<0·001). The di
ff
erence of about 1600 g remained ap-
proximately constant from pregnancy week 16 until the end of pregnancy. Neither toxoplasmosis nor RhD phenotype
had any e
ff
ect on fetal bioparameter data or birth length and weight.
Conclusion.
The most parsimonious explanation for
the observed data is that the RhD-positive phenotype might protect infected subjects against a broad spectrum of
detrimental e
ff
ects of latent toxoplasmosis, including excessive gestational weight gain