The length of uncomplicated human gestation

Article Abstract:

The predicted duration of a normal pregnancy, from conception to due date or estimated date of confinement, is calculated using Naegele's Rule. This rule states that the due date is 280 days from the first day of the last menstrual period (LMP), or 266 days from ovulation (with a menstrual cycle of 28 days, ovulating on the fourteenth day). It is suggested that the length of a normal, uncomplicated pregnancy may actually be longer than Naegele's rule predicts. Studies have usually included both normal pregnancies and those which were complicated by maternal medical conditions, and in complicated pregnancies, the baby is often delivered early. This has made it difficult to isolate the data on length of gestation in normal, healthy pregnancies. In this study, the length of a normal pregnancy was evaluated in women who kept reliable menstrual records; the subjects were 114 white women seeing private physicians for their prenatal care. In patients delivering for the first time, primiparas, the median (average) length of pregnancy from assumed ovulation to delivery was 274 days. For women with previous pregnancies, multiparas, the median duration of pregnancy was 269 days. Since Naegele's rule predicts that gestation lasts for 266 days, the duration of an uncomplicated pregnancy in white women in private care was found to be significantly longer than Naegele's rule predicts. Based on this study, to figure the estimated date of confinement (EDC) in this population, count back three months from the first day of the last menstrual period and then add 15 days for primiparas or 10 days for multiparas. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Measurement, Practice, Gestational age, Obstetrics

---

Adverse infant outcomes associated with first-trimester vaginal bleeding

Article Abstract:

Vaginal bleeding is often reported by pregnant women. It has been suggested that bleeding episodes during pregnancy indicate an increased risk for adverse infant outcomes (such as illness or death). This study examined a number of factors that reflect infant outcome in pregnancies that lasted 20 weeks or more and in which vaginal bleeding occurred during the first trimester (the first three months). The pregnancies of 11,444 nondiabetic women were assessed. Of these, bleeding in the first trimester only occurred in 1,174 pregnancies and bleeding in the first and subsequent trimesters occurred in 215 pregnancies. The risk for giving birth to a low-birth-weight infant was significantly higher for women who had vaginal bleeding in the first trimester. Women who experienced vaginal bleeding during the first and subsequent trimesters were almost three times more likely to deliver a low-birth-weight infant than women who did not bleed. Risk for preterm delivery was two times greater for the women who had vaginal bleeding in the first trimester and three-fold for those who bled more than one trimester, compared with women who did not bleed. These results indicate that vaginal bleeding during the first and subsequent trimesters is indicative of adverse infant outcomes. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Abnormalities, Complications and side effects, Fetus, Prognosis, Birth weight, Low, Low birth weight, Pregnancy, Complications of, Pregnancy complications, Uterine bleeding, Uterine hemorrhage

---

Predictors of human gestational length

Article Abstract:

The length of a pregnancy may be affected by the mother's age and race. Whether the mother has given birth to any other children may also affect the length of a pregnancy. A study examined different factors that affected the length of pregnancy among 12,825 women who gave birth between Aug 1977 and Mar 1980 at the same hospital. The pregnancies of women who had given birth to other children were an average of three days shorter than those of women who had never given birth. Women less than 19 years old or more than 34 years old had significantly shorter pregnancies than women between 19 and 34 years old. Black women had significantly shorter pregnancies than women from other races. Women with a high-school education also had significantly shorter pregnancies than college-educated women. Excessive coffee consumption and exposure to DES in utero were also associated with shorter pregnancies.

Premature birth

Similar abstracts:

• Abstracts: Yersinia enterocolitica O:33 infections in infants and children, associated with the household preparation of chitterlings
• Abstracts: The prevalence of substance abuse in patients with suspected preterm labor. Awaiting cervical change for the diagnosis of preterm labor does not compromise the efficacy of ritodrine tocolysis
• Abstracts: Safety and efficacy of oral flecainide therapy in patients with atrioventricular re-entrant tachycardia. Inefficacy and proarrhythmic effects of flecainide and encainide for sustained ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation
• Abstracts: Liver transplantation for severe Amanita phalloides mushroom poisoning. Initial two-year results of the Oregon Liver Transplantation Program
• Abstracts: The role of genetically determined polymorphic drug metabolism in the beta-blockade produced by propafenone. Racial differences in drug response: altered sensitivity to and clearance of propranolol in men of Chinese descent as compared with American Whites

This website is not affiliated with document authors or copyright owners. This page is provided for informational purposes only. Unintentional errors are possible.