RHL Commentary by Eckhart Buchmann
EVIDENCE SUMMARY
The Cochrane Review included only one small trial. The review found no evidence of any benefit or harm associated with the routine measurement of symphysis-fundal height (SFH) in pregnant women.
In the discussion section, the author of the review notes that the sensitivity of the methods of detecting small-for-gestational-age (SGA) babies was much lower than that reported in previous observational studies. The reason for this may lie in the very stringent criteria used for suspecting SGA fetuses (three consecutive static measurements, two measurements under the tenth centile SFH or a reduction in SFH). The use of a single measurement under the tenth centile (1), would probably have given greater sensitivity with some loss of specificity. The trial also performed measurements only from the 29th week of pregnancy, further reducing the potential sensitivity of the measurements.
The selection of eligible studies appears to have been performed satisfactorily.
The full RHL commentary also includes sections on: Relevance
- Magnitude of the problem
- Feasibility of the intervention
- Applicability of the results of the Cochrane Review
- Implementation of the intervention
- Research
References
This document should be cited as: Eckhart Buchmann. Routine symphysis-fundal height measurement during pregnancy: RHL commentary (last revised: 20 February 2003). The WHO Reproductive Health Library, No 9, Update Software Ltd, Oxford, 2006. www.rhlibrary.com
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