Limited clinical utility of midtrimester fetal morphometric percentile rankings in screening for birth weight abnormalities

• Published in: American journal of obstetrics and gynecology 1997-10, Vol.177 (4), p.859-863
• Main Authors: Bryant, David R., Zador, Ivan, Landwehr, Joseph B., Wolfe, Honor M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abdomen - anatomy & histology; Abdomen - embryology; Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Birth Weight; Female; Fetus - anatomy & histology; Gestational Age; Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics; Humans; Infant, Small for Gestational Age; large for gestational age; Management. Prenatal diagnosis; Medical sciences; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Trimester, Second; Pregnancy. Fetus. Placenta; preterm delivery; Regression Analysis; ROC Curve; screening prenatal ultrasonography; Sensitivity and Specificity; Small for gestational age
• ISSN: 0002-9378; 1097-6868
• DOI: 10.1016/S0002-9378(97)70283-7

OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to determine whether midtrimester fetal ultrasonographic morphometric percentile rankings are sensitive screening tests for preterm labor or birth weight abnormalities. STUDY DESIGN: Stepwise multiple regression and χ 2 analysis were used to identify midtrimester fetal measurements predicting birth weight and gestational age. Receiver-operator characteristic curves were used to evaluate abdominal circumference percentiles as a test for large-for-gestational-age and small-for-gestational-age infants. RESULTS: Extremes in abdominal circumference and head measurement percentiles were associated with large- and small-for gestational-age infants but not with preterm delivery. Abdominal circumference predicted birth weight in regression analysis; however, receiver-operator characteristic curves showed abdominal circumference percentiles to be poor screening tests for large- or small-for-gestational-age infants. The positive predictive value of 10th and 90th abdominal circumference percentiles for small- and large-for-gestational-age infants was