Postnatal overestimation of gestational age in preterm infants
H. Shukla, Y. S. Atakent, A. Ferrara, J. Topsis and C. Antoine
In a study involving 25 preterm infants, obstetric clinical age (standard
gestational age) was determined by history, physical examination, and
ultrasonographic evaluation. Postnatally, these infants were then evaluated
using the Dubowitz Scoring System (DSS) for gestational age assessment. The
DSS, as administered by us, significantly overestimated gestational age
compared with the standard gestational age (mean +/- 1 SD: 34.2 +/- 2.9 vs
32.5 +/- 3.9 weeks, respectively) in preterm infants. To illustrate, the
gestational ages of 13 newborns (52%) in the total study group were each
overestimated by more than two weeks. This percentage increased to 75%
among the 16 infants whose gestational ages were less than 34 weeks (by
standard gestational age). When the standard gestational age was
underestimated by the DSS, this difference never exceeded two weeks. These
findings suggest that the present system of postnatal assessment of
gestational age in preterm infants needs further investigation.
