ISSN:
1471-0528
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Medicine
Notes:
Objectives To determine the perinatal outcome of fetuses who had birthweights less than that expected from early third trimester ultrasound scanning.Design Retrospective estimation of centile fetal weight at early third trimester ultrasound scanning compared with actual centile birthweight corrected for gestational age, parity and sex.Setting Teaching Hospital Obstetric Unit, London.Subjects 197 unselected women with singleton cephalic pregnancies who were delivered at term in our unit between October 1989 and May 1990.Main outcome measures CTG abnormality, need for fetal blood sampling in labour, meconium-staining of the amniotic fluid, mode of delivery, Apgar scores at 1 and 5 min, need for transfer of baby to neonatal unit, and need for neonatal intubation of the neonate at delivery.Results An actual birthweight 〉5% less than the birthweight estimated from ultrasound scanning identified 44 babies (22%) with an increased risk of CTG abnormalities (χ2= 8.38, P 〈0.0025; Odds ratio (OR) = 2.54; 95% CI1 1.6 to 4.78) and need for operative delivery (x= 5.81, P 〈0.0125; OR = 1.94; 95% CI 1.15 to 3.27), when compared with the remainder of the sample. Overall 14 (32%) of this group had birth-weights above the 50th centile. A group of 44 babies selected as being the smallest for gestational age, without reference to growth pattern, had a similar excess morbidity. (All this group had birthweights below the 39th centile.)Conclusions This study supports the hypothesis that in-utero fetal growth pattern is as important for perinatal outcome as being small for gestational age per se.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-0528.1992.tb13779.x
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