Sedigheh Pakseresht
Guilan University and Medical Science, Iran
Title: Estimation of fetal weight by clinical examination and ultrasound methods in predicting actual birth weight
Biography
Biography: Sedigheh Pakseresht
Abstract
Introduction & Aim: Fetal weight is one of the most important factors in the management of prenatal care. The knowledge of the weight of the fetus helps obstetrician to decide on the mode of delivery. Assessment of fetal weight is essential in detecting neonatal complication. The purpose of this study was to compare the clinical examination and ultrasound methods for predicting fetal weight estimates.
Method: This was a narrative study that by searching articles published in the Persian and English databases SID, Google Scholar, Pubmed, Scopus and Web of Science. The present study aims to compare clinical examination and ultrasound methods for the assessment of fetal weight between January 2014 and December 2018 by using the keywords such as; Estimation, Fetal weight, Clinical methods, Johnsons’ formula, Dares’ formula, Dawns’ formula and Ultrasound.
Result: The articles were searched from 2014-2018. In all of 73 articles, 32 articles were reviewed. The results indicated that Dare's formula is superior among the clinical methods and in the ultrasound method; Headlock’s formula is the highest accuracy.
Conclusion: The results of most studies show a significant direct correlation between estimated and actual birth weight for the all the methods. Dare's formula is better than ultrasound estimated fetal weight. Also, Dare's formula can be important in developing countries such as our country, where ultrasound is not available in remote areas. Clinical methods are easy and simple in estimation of fetal weight. So, suggested clinical methods to be used to estimate fetal weight and the need to be to be training among medical and health service providers.