Placental villitis and intrauterine growth retardation in a Swedish population.

Villitis was studied in placentas from 445 singleton infants from an ethnically homogeneous population with a good socioeconomic standard. There were 161 infants small for gestational age (SGA) and 284 appropriate for gestational age (AGA). Villitis was found in 12 SGA-placentas (7.5 per cent) and 8 AGA placentas (2.8 per cent) (p less than 0.05). The degree of villitis was also related to growth retardation (p less than 0.05). Except for one placenta with villitis due to CMV infection, the cause of villitis could not be determined. No association was found with various studied factors such as hypertension, pre-eclampsia, smoking or maternal pyrexia during pregnancy.