Relationship between length of gestation, birth weight and certain other factors.

It is well known that there is a relationship between the weight of the foetus and the length of gestation, but both these elements may be affected by a variety of factors which may be of importance to the viability and developmental potential of premature infants and of those born at term. A number of these factors are considered in this study, which is based on data in the literature and on relatively extensive case material from Poland.Statistical analysis suggests that there is slight correlation between the weight of the foetus on the one hand and, on the other, the weight of the placenta, the height of the mother and the age of the mother.The author concludes, inter alia, that the relation between foetal weight and length of gestation, being easily determined, is of value in routine clinical practice as a general guide to the degree of maturity of an infant, but that other more precise measures need to be developed.