A Study to Evaluate the Relationship of Estimated Fetal Weight and Actual Fetal Birth Weight Using Ultrasound

Abstract

Estimated fetus weight is an essential measurement used to predict the fetal health during pregnancy as it has a close correlation with fetal mortality, Low fetal weight can lead to IUGR and high fetal weight can lead to fetal and maternal complications. Objective: To assess the changes among Estimated fetus weight and Actual fetus weight after birth. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the obstetric and gynecological sector of tertiary care setup in Gujrat, Pakistan. The data was collected for the duration of 4 months from December 2021 to March 2022. Data was collected using a convenient sampling technique. A sample size of 169 patients was calculated using the mean from previous related published studies. A Toshiba ultrasound machine was used with a 3.5 MHz convex probe was used. Data analysis was done by SPSS version 20. Consent was taken from all the participating pregnant females. Results: In this study result mean of estimated fetal weight (g) in the 3rd trimester was 2690.72 ± 463.97g the average of actual weight (g) gained after delivery was 2701.04 ± 483.24g. The paired t-test shows no significant change in estimated fetus weight on ultrasound and actual fetus weight after birth. Conclusion: This study determined that estimated fetal weight can be measured using an advanced ultrasound machine which can be cost-effective. This study also concluded that the difference among estimated fetus weight and actual fetus weight after birth is not statistically significant.