Foot length- A Screening tool and it’s correlation with gestational age and other anthropometric parameters among neonates at a tertiary care centre in Uttarakhand

Abstract

Background & objectives-The neonatal mortality continues to remain high. Early identification of high risk babies can decrease it. In areas where health care services are poorly retrieved, it becomes difficult to identify these babies. Study was done to assess the feasibility of foot length in identifying these neonates and also to find out it’s correlation with other anthropometric parameters. Methods- This cross-sectional study was conducted over 753 newborns over duration of 1 year. All singleton babies between 32-38 weeks of gestation within 72 hours of birth were included. Foot length was measured by non-stretchable measuring tape from posterior most prominence of foot to the tip of longest toe of right foot. Results- Amongst all, 37.6% were preterm and 58.8% were low birth weight. The mean ±SD of foot length for pre-term and term was 6.90±0.28 and 7.42±0.26 respectively. All parameters were significant (P<.001) according to gestational age. The mean of anthropometric parameters were higher in term neonates (P<0.0001). Males had higher values of foot length and body weight. There was a significant positive correlation of foot length with body weight and gestational age (0.773, 0.694 respectively). Foot length contributed significantly to weight.