Objective
The objective of the study was to investigate the association between pregnancy complications
and small for gestational age (SGA) birthweight, comparing SGA based on the customized
growth potential with SGA based on the birthweight standard of the same population.
Study Design
This was a retrospective analysis of a database from a US multicenter study. Pregnancy
complications included threatened preterm labor, antepartum hemorrhage, pregnancy-induced
hypertension, preeclampsia, stillbirth, and early neonatal death.
Results
Compared with SGA by the birthweight standard, SGA by customized growth potential
showed higher risk for each of the 6 adverse indicators. A third of the SGA group
was small by customized centiles but not by population-based centiles, yet was strongly
associated with each of the pregnancy complications studied. This subgroup of unrecognized
SGA babies included 26% preterm deliveries. In contrast, a subgroup that was SGA by
the population standard but not by the customized standard (17.2%), was not associated
with any of the indicators of adverse outcome.
Conclusion
SGA defined by customized growth potential improves the differentiation between physiologically
and pathologically small babies.
Key words
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Gardosi J, Clausson B, Francis A. The value of customized centiles in assessing perinatal mortality risk associated with parity and maternal size. BJOG doi: 10.111/j.1471-0528.2009.02245.
Article Info
Publication History
Accepted:
April 20,
2009
Received in revised form:
January 16,
2009
Received:
December 18,
2008
Footnotes
Cite this article as: Gardosi J, Francis A. Adverse pregnancy outcome and association with small for gestational age birthweight by customized and population-based percentiles. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2009;201:28.e1-8.
Identification
Copyright
© 2009 Published by Elsevier Inc.
