PRENATAL AND POSTNATAL ASSESSMENT OF GESTATIONAL-AGE IN PRETERM BABIES

Low birth weight infants are a heterogeneous group of babies with medi cal risks that may vary according to gestational age. The degree of pr ematurity should be assessed using non-invasive valid methods. The pur pose of this study was to assess the validity of four most commonly us ed methods for the assessment of gestational age in two groups of 60 a ppropriate for date preterms and 29 small for date babies. Our results support the use of prenatal assessment of gestational age by maternal history and early ultrasonography in afd-infants, the use of the exam ination of the anterior vascular capsule of the lens in afd and sfd in fants and physical criteria rather than neurologic criteria when using the Ballard score.