Elsevier

Seminars in Perinatology

Volume 26, Issue 4, August 2002, Pages 306-311
Seminars in Perinatology

The effect of gestational age errors and their correction in interpreting population trends in fetal growth and gestational age-specific mortality

https://doi.org/10.1053/sper.2002.34768Get rights and content

In perinatal research and clinical practice, gestational age is a crucial variable for measuring fetal “growth” (birth weight for gestational age) and for estimating the risk of mortality and morbidity. Yet, reported gestational age values are affected by random and systematic errors. This article reviews methods for detecting and correcting errors in gestational age and compares the effects of these methods on fetal growth standards and on the use of population-based data in analysis of trends in gestational-age specific infant mortality.

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    This work was supported in part by grants from the Canadan Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, by the Fonds de Récherche en Santé du Quebec, and by the Institut National de Santé et de Recherche Médicale (INSERM) of France. R.W.P. is a Scholar of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

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