Maternal height and shoe size as predictors of pelvic disproportion: an assessment.

A total of 351 women who gave birth in the Paddington and North Kensington Health District were studied in order to establish a factual basis for recording height and shoe size as indicators of pelvic adequacy. Because only 19 women had radiological pelvimetry assessment, type of delivery and length of labour were used as proxy measures of disproportion. Of the 57 women with a shoe size less than 4 1/2, 21% were delivered by caesarean section compared with 10% of the group with shoe size between 4 1/2 and 6 and only 1% of the group with shoe size greater than or equal to 6 1/2. Similar relations with height were not generally found. The data were further examined using logistic regression models of the expected percentages of mothers having an adverse delivery. The models confirmed and extended the more simple analysis.