Altered fetal growth: antenatal diagnosis by symphysis-fundal height in India and comparison with western charts.

Antenatal identification of altered fetal growth is a significant problem in spite of the availability of sophisticated technology. The present study was undertaken to generate symphysis-fundal height curves locally for an Indian population and to assess their value in predicting altered fetal growth. The measurements were found to have a high sensitivity of 80.8% and specificity of 93.5% in detection of small for date babies and a sensitivity and specificity of 72.2% and 95.2%, respectively in detection of fetal macrosomia. The locally generated symphysis-fundal height charts have been compared with the western charts and the differences stressed. It is concluded that symphysis-fundal height curves should be locally generated for best results.