Abstract:
INTRODUCTION: gestational age is the estimated age
of gestation from a fetus during its development
and this is very important for the mother who wants
to know when to expect the birth of her baby and
for the health care provider so they can chose the
time at which to perform various assessment.
However, from the information outlined in this
research, it can be seen that last menstrual period
(LMP) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) are
used to assess gestational age. While GSD, CRL,
BPD, HC, AC and FL are biometric parameters that
can be measured on a fetus in order to estimate
gestational age. Many clinicians and
ultrasonologists feel that if they are unable to
obtain an accurate measurement at the time, they
have sometimes failed to do an adequate job.
METHODS : the study was a comparative study on clinical method versus ultrasound method for
accurate gestational age determination and also to
determine the significance of fetal biometric
parameter in GA determination. The study was an
observational, cross sectional and participatory
study for a period of 5 weeks from the 22nd of
January to the 22nd of February 2018. A total of
72(74.2%) ANC cases were sampled during
ultrasonography. Gestational ages from their clinic
card were recorded. Twenty five questionnaires were given out to 25(26.8%) health care personnel
to assess clinical method. Data was analyzed using
SPSS version 16 plus and Microsoft Excel 2010.
RESULTS : results showed the best clinical method
used was LMP with 9(36%) but when compared to
ultrasound, ultrasound presented with greater
accuracy of 15(60%) and clinical method 10(40%).
CONCLUSION : based on the findings, it could be
concluded that compared to the physical
examination and clinical methods, ultrasound
examination of the fetus provided the physician and
health care professionals with greater accuracy for
gestational age.
