Determining Gestational Age in a Low-resource Setting: Validity of Last Menstrual Period

The validity of three methods (last menstrual period [LPM], Ballard and Dubowitz scores) for assessment of gestational age for premature infants in a low-resource setting was assessed, using antenatal ultrasound as the gold standard. It was hypothesized that LMP and other methods would perform similarly in determining postnatal gestational age. Concordance analysis was applied to data on 355 neonates of <33 weeks gestational age enrolled in a topical skin-therapy trial in a tertiary-care children's hospital in Bangladesh. The concordance coefficient for LMP, Ballard, and Dubowitz was 0.878, 0.914, and 0.886 respectively. LMP and Ballard underestimated gestational age by one day (±11) and 2.9 days (±7.8) respectively while Dubowitz overestimated gestational age by 3.9 days (±7.1) compared to ultrasound finding. LMP…