Unified standard for fetal growth: the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Fetal Growth Studies

Abstract

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Fetal Growth Studies–Singletons developed fetal growth standards in a contemporary, race and ethnicity diverse, and healthy multisite population in the United States.1 The study revealed differences in fetal growth, represented as size-for-gestational-age, by maternally self-reported race and ethnicity, demonstrable as early as 10 to 16 weeks’ gestation.2,3 Based on these findings, fetal growth standards stratified by race and ethnicity were developed because pooling results among self-identified racial and ethnic groups may differentially classify growth at the extremes, namely small for gestational age (SGA) or large for gestational age (LGA).