Yves Jacquemyn, Stanislas U. Sys, Paul Verdonk
Fetal transverse cerebellar diameter in different ethnic groups
Aims: Transverse cerebellar diameter has been described
as a tool to check for gestational age, but there
are no available studies that attempt to determine differences
in transverse cerebellar diameter between groups
of different ethnic origin. The present study was undertaken
to check for differences in ultrasound-measured
transverse cerebellar diameter between pregnant women
of autochthonous Belgian origin and migrant women
from Morocco and Turkey.
Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was performed.
Patients were pregnant women presenting between
17 and 40 weeks of gestational age. Only uncomplicated
singleton pregnancies with a known date of the
last menstrual period confirmed by first trimester ultrasound
were included. The father of the child had to be
of the same ethnic origin as the mother. Polynomial regression
was fitted for the three different ethnic groups.
Results: The transverse cerebellar diameter was obtained
in 471 singleton fetuses, including 333 Belgian,
69 Moroccan and 69 Turkish. F-tests on the residual
sums of squares of different fits demonstrated significant
effects of ethnicity on the regression of the measurement
versus gestational age ( P < 0.00005). In a
third order polynomial regression model the second order
coefficient was significantly higher and the third
order coefficient was significantly lower for the Moroccan
group.
Conclusion: The transverse cerebellar diameter is not
independent of the ethnic origin of the patient. When
using the transverse cerebellar diameter for the evaluation
of fetal growth or for dating a pregnancy, care
should be taken to rely on charts appropriate for the
ethnic group, as demonstrated here for Moroccan fetuses.
Journal of Perinatal Medicine, Walter de Gruyter
Print ISSN: 1619-3997
Volume: 28, 01/2000
Pages: 14 - 19
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