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. 2012 Oct;207(4):318.e1-6.
doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2012.06.039.

The risk of intrauterine fetal death in the small-for-gestational-age fetus

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The risk of intrauterine fetal death in the small-for-gestational-age fetus

Rachel A Pilliod et al. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2012 Oct.

Abstract

Objective: We sought to evaluate the risk of intrauterine fetal death (IUFD) in small-for-gestational-age (SGA) fetuses.

Study design: We analyzed a retrospective cohort of all births in the United States in 2005, as recorded in a national database. We calculated the risk of IUFD within 3 sets of SGA threshold categories as well as within non-SGA pregnancies using the number of at-risk fetuses as the denominator.

Results: The risk of IUFD increased with gestational age and was inversely proportional to percentile of birthweight for gestational age. The risk for IUFD in those <3rd percentile was as high as 58.0 IUFDs per 10,000 at-risk fetuses, 43.9 for <5th percentile, and 26.3 for <10th percentile compared to 5.1 for non-SGA gestations.

Conclusion: There is an increase in the risk of IUFD in SGA fetuses compared to non-SGA fetuses at all gestational ages with the greatest risk demonstrated in the lowest percentile cohort evaluated.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure
Figure
Risk of IUFD by gestational age IUFD, intrauterine fetal death. Pilliod. The risk of intrauterine fetal death in the SGA fetus. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2012.

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