CORRELATION BETWEEN FUNDAL HEIGHT AND BIRTH WEIGHT IN TERM PREGNANCIES

Nema Mabano; MD.

Retrospective study carried out on 612 cases collected at 2 facilities; HEK and CVN, during a period of 3 years. (1 January 2015 - 31 December 2017) - BURUNDI

Abstract

 Introduction: Symphysis fundal height (SFH) is measured from the top of the mother's uterus to the top of the mother's pubic symphysis. According to the WHO, accurate low-cost methods, for detecting abnormal growth, such as SFH, are desirable because ultrasound, the most accurate screening tool, is resource-intensive and not widely available in Low Middle Income Countries (LMICs). As fetal weight cannot be directly measured, it must be estimated from fetal and maternal anatomical characteristics such as the symphysio-fundal height (SFH) measurement. This study was conducted in one hospital and a clinic in Burundi, and contains an overview of birthweights as per fundal heights.

Main objective: Evaluation of fundal height as a measure to predict birth weight

Secondary objectives: Identifying the number of small fundal heights that resulted in low birth weight and large fundal heights that resulted to macrosomia  

Materials and Methods: for data collection, parturients’ charts were a data source for this retrospective study; data collection was done on field in a period of 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2017.

Results: 612 parturients were identified in the 2 facilities, fundal height results were as follows in both facilities, the median = 31, mean = 31.33, SD = 2.447958, The mean SFH from CVN = 33.5cm,the mean SFH from HEK = 30cm.

The average SFH at HEK is lower than the average SFH at CVN with a difference of 3.5cm.

Majority of parturients had a fundal height of 30-34cm which accounts for 72.39%, the birthweight results were as follows; newborns weighed between 2.5-4kg accounting for 88.40% of the cases, while 9.97% of newborns had birth weights less than 2.5kg and 1.63% with birth weights above 4kg

Conclusion: From the results of the study, we can safely conclude that fundal height is a fairly accurate predictor of birthweight, our fundal heights are smaller than expected for term pregnancies, but still can be accurate in predicting birth weight, adjusted tables for our setting would be needed. SFH can serve as a clinical indicator in anticipating pathological birthweights, and can be used to complement modern techniques of predicting weight.

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