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Identifying women at risk for low-birth-weight babies is clinically relevant because low birth weight is associated with a variety of important health outcomes. These British investigators used ultrasound records from 1985 to 1995 to examine whether the size of the fetus during the first trimester is correlated with birth weight. From a database of 30,000 pregnancies they identified 4,229 healthy women with normal menstrual histories who had first-trimester ultrasounds including measurement of the crown-rump length of the fetus. Measured crown-rump length was compared to the expected length for gestational age.
Results showed that a first-trimester length of two to six days smaller than expected was associated with an increased risk for birt…