Dating of Pregnancy in First versus Second Trimester in Relation to Post-Term Birth Rate: A Cohort Study

Ida Näslund Thagaard; Lone Krebs; Ulrik Lausten-Thomsen; Severin Olesen-Larsen; Jens-Christian Holm; Michael Christiansen; Torben Larsen

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0147109

Dating of Pregnancy in First versus Second Trimester in Relation to Post-Term Birth Rate: A Cohort Study

Ida Näslund Thagaard, Lone Krebs, Ulrik Lausten-Thomsen, Severin Olesen-Larsen, Jens-Christian Holm, Michael Christiansen, Torben Larsen

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate in a national standardised setting whether the performance of ultrasound dating during the first rather than the second trimester of pregnancy had consequences regarding the definition of pre- and post-term birth rates.

METHODS: A cohort study of 8,551 singleton pregnancies with spontaneous delivery was performed from 2006 to 2012 at Copenhagen University Hospital, Holbæk, Denmark. We determined the duration of pregnancy calculated by last menstrual period, crown rump length (CRL), biparietal diameter (1st trimester), BPD (2nd trimester), and head circumference and compared mean and median durations, the mean differences, the systematic discrepancies, and the percentages of pre-term and post-term pregnancies in relation to each method. The primary outcomes were post-term and pre-term birth rates defined by different dating methods.

RESULTS: The change from use of second to first trimester measurements for dating was associated with a significant increase in the rate of post-term deliveries from 2.1-2.9% and a significant decrease in the rate of pre-term deliveries from 5.4-4.6% caused by systematic discrepancies. Thereby 25.1% would pass 41 weeks when GA is defined by CRL and 17.3% when BPD (2nd trimester) is used. Calibration for these discrepancies resulted in a lower post-term birth rate, from 3.1-1.4%, when first compared to second trimester dating was used.

CONCLUSIONS: Systematic discrepancies were identified when biometric formulas were used to determine duration of pregnancy. This should be corrected in clinical practice to avoid an overestimation of post-term birth and unnecessary inductions when first trimester formulas are used.

Original language	English
Article number	e0147109
Journal	PloS one
Volume	11
Issue number	1
Number of pages	9
ISSN	1932-6203
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0147109
Publication status	Published - 1 Jan 2016

Keywords

Birth Rate
Cohort Studies
Female
Gestational Age
Humans
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Trimester, First
Pregnancy Trimester, Second
Pregnancy, Prolonged
Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Access to Document

10.1371/journal.pone.0147109

Cite this

@article{50e5106524404b738f141788fc56e9f7,

title = "Dating of Pregnancy in First versus Second Trimester in Relation to Post-Term Birth Rate: A Cohort Study",

abstract = "OBJECTIVES: To evaluate in a national standardised setting whether the performance of ultrasound dating during the first rather than the second trimester of pregnancy had consequences regarding the definition of pre- and post-term birth rates.METHODS: A cohort study of 8,551 singleton pregnancies with spontaneous delivery was performed from 2006 to 2012 at Copenhagen University Hospital, Holb{\ae}k, Denmark. We determined the duration of pregnancy calculated by last menstrual period, crown rump length (CRL), biparietal diameter (1st trimester), BPD (2nd trimester), and head circumference and compared mean and median durations, the mean differences, the systematic discrepancies, and the percentages of pre-term and post-term pregnancies in relation to each method. The primary outcomes were post-term and pre-term birth rates defined by different dating methods.RESULTS: The change from use of second to first trimester measurements for dating was associated with a significant increase in the rate of post-term deliveries from 2.1-2.9% and a significant decrease in the rate of pre-term deliveries from 5.4-4.6% caused by systematic discrepancies. Thereby 25.1% would pass 41 weeks when GA is defined by CRL and 17.3% when BPD (2nd trimester) is used. Calibration for these discrepancies resulted in a lower post-term birth rate, from 3.1-1.4%, when first compared to second trimester dating was used.CONCLUSIONS: Systematic discrepancies were identified when biometric formulas were used to determine duration of pregnancy. This should be corrected in clinical practice to avoid an overestimation of post-term birth and unnecessary inductions when first trimester formulas are used.",

keywords = "Birth Rate, Cohort Studies, Female, Gestational Age, Humans, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Trimester, First, Pregnancy Trimester, Second, Pregnancy, Prolonged, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't",

author = "Thagaard, {Ida N{\"a}slund} and Lone Krebs and Ulrik Lausten-Thomsen and Severin Olesen-Larsen and Jens-Christian Holm and Michael Christiansen and Torben Larsen",

year = "2016",

month = jan,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1371/journal.pone.0147109",

language = "English",

volume = "11",

journal = "PLoS Computational Biology",

issn = "1932-6203",

publisher = "Public Library of Science",

number = "1",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Dating of Pregnancy in First versus Second Trimester in Relation to Post-Term Birth Rate

T2 - A Cohort Study

AU - Thagaard, Ida Näslund

AU - Krebs, Lone

AU - Lausten-Thomsen, Ulrik

AU - Olesen-Larsen, Severin

AU - Holm, Jens-Christian

AU - Christiansen, Michael

AU - Larsen, Torben

PY - 2016/1/1

Y1 - 2016/1/1

N2 - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate in a national standardised setting whether the performance of ultrasound dating during the first rather than the second trimester of pregnancy had consequences regarding the definition of pre- and post-term birth rates.METHODS: A cohort study of 8,551 singleton pregnancies with spontaneous delivery was performed from 2006 to 2012 at Copenhagen University Hospital, Holbæk, Denmark. We determined the duration of pregnancy calculated by last menstrual period, crown rump length (CRL), biparietal diameter (1st trimester), BPD (2nd trimester), and head circumference and compared mean and median durations, the mean differences, the systematic discrepancies, and the percentages of pre-term and post-term pregnancies in relation to each method. The primary outcomes were post-term and pre-term birth rates defined by different dating methods.RESULTS: The change from use of second to first trimester measurements for dating was associated with a significant increase in the rate of post-term deliveries from 2.1-2.9% and a significant decrease in the rate of pre-term deliveries from 5.4-4.6% caused by systematic discrepancies. Thereby 25.1% would pass 41 weeks when GA is defined by CRL and 17.3% when BPD (2nd trimester) is used. Calibration for these discrepancies resulted in a lower post-term birth rate, from 3.1-1.4%, when first compared to second trimester dating was used.CONCLUSIONS: Systematic discrepancies were identified when biometric formulas were used to determine duration of pregnancy. This should be corrected in clinical practice to avoid an overestimation of post-term birth and unnecessary inductions when first trimester formulas are used.

AB - OBJECTIVES: To evaluate in a national standardised setting whether the performance of ultrasound dating during the first rather than the second trimester of pregnancy had consequences regarding the definition of pre- and post-term birth rates.METHODS: A cohort study of 8,551 singleton pregnancies with spontaneous delivery was performed from 2006 to 2012 at Copenhagen University Hospital, Holbæk, Denmark. We determined the duration of pregnancy calculated by last menstrual period, crown rump length (CRL), biparietal diameter (1st trimester), BPD (2nd trimester), and head circumference and compared mean and median durations, the mean differences, the systematic discrepancies, and the percentages of pre-term and post-term pregnancies in relation to each method. The primary outcomes were post-term and pre-term birth rates defined by different dating methods.RESULTS: The change from use of second to first trimester measurements for dating was associated with a significant increase in the rate of post-term deliveries from 2.1-2.9% and a significant decrease in the rate of pre-term deliveries from 5.4-4.6% caused by systematic discrepancies. Thereby 25.1% would pass 41 weeks when GA is defined by CRL and 17.3% when BPD (2nd trimester) is used. Calibration for these discrepancies resulted in a lower post-term birth rate, from 3.1-1.4%, when first compared to second trimester dating was used.CONCLUSIONS: Systematic discrepancies were identified when biometric formulas were used to determine duration of pregnancy. This should be corrected in clinical practice to avoid an overestimation of post-term birth and unnecessary inductions when first trimester formulas are used.

KW - Birth Rate

KW - Cohort Studies

KW - Female

KW - Gestational Age

KW - Humans

KW - Pregnancy

KW - Pregnancy Trimester, First

KW - Pregnancy Trimester, Second

KW - Pregnancy, Prolonged

KW - Journal Article

KW - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0147109

DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0147109

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 26760299

SN - 1932-6203

VL - 11

JO - PLoS Computational Biology

JF - PLoS Computational Biology

IS - 1

M1 - e0147109

ER -

Dating of Pregnancy in First versus Second Trimester in Relation to Post-Term Birth Rate: A Cohort Study

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this