It is difficult to know what are the risks of a fetus not reaching term, and more when talking about babies with more than 20 weeks gestation. One of the factors that are sought and tried to control is the size of the baby, in case there is a delayed intrauterine growth (CIR). A new study, however, has found that the risk of fetal death does not exist only when the fetus is too small, but also when it is too large.
US researchers analyzed all cases of fetal death in 59 hospitals in 5 regions in a term of 2 and a half years and saw that baby size it was very important when anticipating a possible fetal death, since it was associated with between 25 and 50% of cases.
According to the study, babies who were small for gestation time had between 3 and 4 times more risk of not reaching term than those who had a weight within normality. If the fetus was too large, the risk was also greater.
They established as small children those that remained in a percentile less than 10 in the fetal growth chart and as large children those that were above the 90th percentile. The greatest risk happened when the little ones were below the 5th percentile and when the big ones were left above 95.
This surprises a little because many people usually associate a high weight with a better state of health in the baby, by joining size with force and vigor. However, as the researchers saw, not only the little ones are at risk, but also the big ones, and the bigger the worse.
The study can be read in the online edition of the magazine PLoS Medicine and intends to establish some new rules when it comes to controlling pregnancies and create prevention strategies, based largely on control baby size, for small or large. This will not identify all fetuses that will not reach term, because there are many more reasons why a fetus is not born, but it will be achieved, researchers say, identify about 46% of them.
The question that remains is how they will act with the data, once it is known that the risk exists. When it is observed that a baby is growing little the mother is recommended rest, changes are made in the diet and the reasons are sought in case there is something that can be treated. But if they find that a baby is big, I don't know what they can do to stop growth. I imagine that, likewise, the objective will be find a possible cause and, weighing risks and benefits, treat the mother to keep her from growing so much, if treatment is possible.
