Performance of six birthweight and estimated fetal weight standards for predicting adverse perinatal outcomes: a 10-year nationwide population-based study.

This study addresses the recurrent problem of identifying fetuses at risk of morbidity and perinatal mortality related to growth disorders, and provides new insights into the applicability of international growth standards. Our findings of marked variation in classification and the similarly poor performance of prescriptive international standards and the other commonly used standards raise questions about whether the prescriptive international standards that were constructed for universal adoption, are indeed applicable to a multi-ethnic population such as Australia. Thus, caution is needed when adopting universal standards for clinical and epidemiological use. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.