European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

An important factor in determining whether a specific low birth weight neonate
is preterm or has growth retardation is the estimated gestational age. So, this study was an
attempt to determine the correlation between anthropometric parameters of newborns with a
period of gestational age.
Material and Methods: A hospital based cross sectional study was done among 200
consecutive live births delivered at tertiary care centre. The anthropometric parameters like
birth weight, length, foot length, head circumference, chest circumference, mid upper arm
circumference were recorded and analysed with gestational age using correlation and
regression analysis.
Results: At p value of 0.05, the neonatal anthropometric measures showed a positive
correlation with GA in completed weeks. The multiple linear regression analysis showed that
Birth weight, length and head circumference had significant linear relationship and the
regression equation derived as follows: GA = [41.325 + 1.603 (𝐵𝑖𝑟𝑡ℎ 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡)] +
0.125 (𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ) − 0.437 (𝐶ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑐𝑖𝑟𝑐𝑢𝑚𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒).
Conclusion: The anthropometric parameters had a positive correlation with gestational age
and there was an increase in all parameters of birth weight, length, head circumference, chest
circumference, foot length, and MUAC with respect to gestational age. So, these
measurements can be used as a better screening tool for the assessment of prematurity in low
resource settings.