Assessment of Gestational Age by Modified Ballard Score and Its Correlation with Assessment based on Ultrasound and Date of Last Menstrual Period
Mayank Aggarwal, Ashish K Simalti, Vandana Negi, Badal Parik
Keywords :
Gestational age, Modified Ballard Score, Perinatal care
Citation Information :
Aggarwal M, Simalti AK, Negi V, Parik B. Assessment of Gestational Age by Modified Ballard Score and Its Correlation with Assessment based on Ultrasound and Date of Last Menstrual Period. Journal of Medical Academics 2021; 4 (2):48-50.
Background: In developing countries, significant number of deliveries, including preterm ones, is conducted at home by birth attendants and the neonate's first contact with pediatrician happens only after a few days of life. The present work aimed to study the validity of New Ballard Score (NBS) on day 7 of life for estimation of gestational age (GA) in preterm neonates. Objective of our study was to assess GA using Modified Ballard Score (MBS) on days 1, 3, and 7 of life among preterm neonates and find its correlation with GA assessed antenatally using USG report and last menstrual period (LMP). Materials and methods: It was a prospective observational study, GA was estimated by principal investigator based on NBS on days 1, 3, and 7. The principal investigator was blinded to calculate GA based on USG and LMP. The parents of the neonate were explained about the study and informed consent was obtained. Intraclass correlation (ICC) statistic was performed to detect correlation between the GA measured antenatally and MBS measured GA. Results: Correlation between GA assessed ultrasonographically and that assessed postnatally by MBS on days 1, 3, and 7 of life was found to be significant (r-value: 0.832, 0.837, 0.831; p < 0.01). Conclusion: In situation where newborn encounters physician after first few days of life and does not have an exact assessment of GA through an established LMP and ultrasonography (USG) MBS can be utilized even on day 3 or 7 of life.
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