Intrauterine growth curve in a low-income population in the outskirts of the city of São Paulo

• Main Authors: Julie Schlesinger, Patricia Vega dos Santos, José Ricardo Dias Bertagnon
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto Israelita de Ensino e Pesquisa Albert Einstein 2005-12-01
• Series: Einstein (São Paulo)
• Subjects: Gestational age; Fetal growth retardation; Fetal anoxia
• Online Access: http://www.einstein.br/revista/biblioteca/artigos/vol3/num_4/Vol3_N4_P255.pdf

Objective: To design an intrauterine growth curve of an Institutionthat serves the needy population of the city of Sao Paulo andcompare it to the intrauterine growth curves of the city of Denverand of the State of California which are considered classic in theliterature, and to verify whether the small-for-gestational-ageinfants classified by the different intrauterine growth curves presenta higher prevalence of birth asphyxia. Methods: Retrospectivestudy including data relative to weight, gestational age calculatedby the Capurro method, and 1 and 5-minute Apgar score, fromJune 2003 to December 2003, in a total of 1012 newborn infantsbetween 35 and 42 weeks of gestational age. The intrauterinegrowth curves were designed with data imported from the EPI-Info6.0™ software. The 10th, 50th and 90th percentiles of birth weight foreach gestational age as from the 35th week were calculated, andthe asphyxiated newborns among the small for gestational agewere compared with the group formed by the appropriate and thelarge for gestational age classified by the different curves. The chisquare test was used and p values < 0.05 were consideredsignificant. Results: The intrauterine growth curve of the Institutionwas narrower than that of Denver. When compared to the Californiacurve, we verified that the infants were classified as small-forgestational-age and large-for-gestational-age with lower values.Using Denver, the Institution, and California curves 2.9%, 9.5%, and19.9% of the infants were classified as small-for-gestational-age,respectively. Conclusions: The values obtained for the Institutioncurves were different from those of Denver and California curves. Alarger number of asphyxiated infants was found among the smallfor gestational age classified by the Denver intrauterine growthcurve than among those classified by the other two curves.