Obesity: Third trimester scans for birth weight ‘unreliable’

Babies can still be born small or large for gestational age despite normal appearance on these scans, researchers say
Clare Pain
heavily pregnant woman having ultrasound

Performing a routine ultrasound on pregnant women with obesity in their third trimester is of limited utility in identifying aberrant fetal growth, Australian researchers report.

The findings have important implications for clinical practice, because doctors need to be aware of how poorly the scan — recommended in RANZCOG guidelines — predicts babies who are small or large for gestational age (SGA and LGA), the authors say.