Correlation of foot length and gestational maturity in neonates
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18203/2349-3291.ijcp20162212Keywords:
Preterm babies, Foot length, Small for gestational age, Birth weightAbstract
Background: Accurate assessment of gestation maturity is not possible in all newborn infants specially when they are sick and need intensive care support. The aim was to study correlation of foot length (FL) with gestational age and other anthropometric measures at birth among preterm, term and post-term neonates.
Methods: Prospective observational study was done. 800 babies born at MGM Medical College Aurangabad from December 2012 to November 2014 were enrolled. FL at birth was measured from the center of the back of the heel to the tip of the big toe. Gestational assessment was done using modified Ballard’s scoring on day one. Based on gestational age, babies were grouped as preterm, term and post term babies. All the three groups of babies were categorised into small for gestational age (SGA), appropriate for gestational age (AGA) and large for gestational age (LGA) groups using lubchenco intrauterine growth curves. Linear regression analysis was done to investigate the relation of FL to gestational age, birth weight (BW), head circumference (HC) and crown heel length (CHL).
Results:There were 52.5% males and 47.5% females. Of the 800 newborns, preterm babies were 124 (15.5%), term babies were 604 (75.5%) and post-term babies were 72 (9%). The mean foot length was 7.42 cm with a range of 4.5-8.8 cm. Foot length correlated significantly (p <0.05) with gestational age, birth weight, head circumference and crown heel length in preterm small for gestational age (SGA), preterm appropriate for gestational age (AGA), term Small for gestational age (SGA) and term appropriate for gestational age (AGA) groups. The correlation coefficient of foot length with gestational age was maximum in preterm AGA (r=0.81) and preterm SGA groups (r=0.75) followed by term SGA (r=0.48) and term AGA (r=0.44). Other groups had no correlation between foot length and gestational age. Post-term AGA and post-term SGA groups had correlation between foot length and birth weight.
Conclusions:Foot length correlated significantly with gestational age and other anthropometric parameters in preterm and term infants.
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References
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