Value of standardized gestational age charts for fetuses of first-generation Oriental immigrants to Canada

to ascertain if standard gestational age charts can be used to accurately predict the gestational age of fetuses of first-generation Oriental immigrants to Canada.

Over a 3-year period, all patients presenting for obstetric ultrasound examinations were invited to participate in the study. The authors recorded biparietal diameter, head circumference, femur length and abdominal circumference for 139 fetuses in the second and third trimesters. A study performed in the first trimester was used as the baseline for gestational age. The data for 126 of the fetuses were complete, and these data were used for the analysis.

For 77 of the fetuses, both parents were Oriental, and for 49, one or both parents were not Oriental; the latter constituted the control group. A total of 1008 individual measurements were obtained, and of these, all but 14 fell within two standard deviations of the norm, according to standard gestational age charts. Of the abnormal measurements, seven were obtained from five fetuses with Oriental parents, and seven were obtained from six fetuses in the control group. The difference between the two groups in the proportion of measurements falling either above or below two standard deviations from the norm was not statistically significant (Fisher's exact test, p = 0.41694).

The authors conclude that standard gestational age charts can be used to determine gestational age in first-generation Oriental immigrants to Canada.