Controlling for Gestational Age in Environmental Studies on Fetal Growth
Author Information
Author(s): Rémy Slama, Babak Khoshnood, Monique Kaminski
Primary Institution: INSERM U823, Grenoble, France
Hypothesis
Does the method of estimating gestational age affect the perceived impact of environmental factors on fetal growth?
Conclusion
Ultrasound-based gestational age estimates may lead to underestimating the effects of environmental pollutants on fetal growth.
Supporting Evidence
- Ultrasound measurements are often used to estimate gestational age, but they may not be reliable.
- Using last menstrual period data can introduce errors due to recall issues and variability in menstrual cycles.
- Environmental pollutants may affect fetal growth as early as the first trimester.
Takeaway
When studying how the environment affects babies growing in the womb, it's important to measure how far along the pregnancy is accurately, or we might get the wrong idea about the effects.
Potential Biases
There is a risk of bias in estimating the effects of environmental factors due to inaccuracies in gestational age estimation.
Limitations
The accuracy of gestational age estimates can be affected by various factors, including reliance on ultrasound and last menstrual period data.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Want to read the original?
Access the complete publication on the publisher's website