Abstract:

Aims: The aim of the study was to evaluate the accuracy of the symphysio-fundal height (SFH) in comparison to the last menstrual period (LMP) for gestational age assessment using ultrasound as the reference.

Study Design: Hospital-based prospective cross sectional study.

Place of study: Antenatal clinic at Bugando Medical Center.

Methodology: A total of 384 consecutive consenting women with singleton pregnancy at gestational age of 16-36 weeks were recruited at the ANC at Bugando Medical Center. Ultrasound (USS) was used to confirm eligibility after which other information including the LMP and SFH were documented on a questionnaire.

Results: A total of 384 women were included in the study at booking. The socio-demographics features of the 384-study population were analysed. Majority of the participants, 194 (50.5%) had an age range of 26 to 30 years whereas about quarter of the participants had an age range of 20 to 25 years. Most of them were within the age group of 20-34 years. Regarding the parity, 307 (79.9%) had given 1 to 4 births and only a single participant was nulliparous This study showed that Symphysio-fundal height is a better method for gestational age assessment compared to the last menstrual period. This was reflected in the fact that the paired mean differences of the LMP with the ultrasound scan were higher and was not found to be statistically significant (P = 0.241) compared to the mean differences of the SFH with the ultrasound scan which were not as high and statistically insignificant (P = 0.667). This implied that both the SFH and LMP assessment from the study were not statistically different from the ultrasound scan as a tool for gestational age assessment and may be more useful in the absence of an ultrasound.