Value of Cerebroplacental Ratio and Uterine Artery Doppler as Predictors of Adverse Perinatal Outcome in Very Small for Gestational Age at Term Fetuses

The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between cerebroplacental ratio (CPR), mean uterine artery (mUtA) Doppler and adverse perinatal outcome (APO) and their predictive performance in fetuses with birth weight (BW) <3rd centile (very small for gestational age, VSGA) in comparison with fetuses with BW 3rd-10th centile (small for gestational age, SGA). This was a retrospective cohort study including singleton pregnancies delivered at term (37 + 0-41 + 6) in a single tertiary referral center over a six-year period. APO was defined as a composite of cesarean section for intrapartum fetal compromise (IFC), umbilical artery pH < 7.20, and admission to the neonatal intensive care unit for >24 h. The characteristics of the study population according to BW (VSGA and SGA) as well as the presence of composite APO were assessed. The prognostic performance of CPR and mUtA-PI was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. In total, 203 pregnancies were included. Of these, 55 (27%) had CPR <10th centile, 25 (12%) mUtA-PI >95th centile, 65 (32%) VSGA fetuses, and 93 (46%) composite APO. VSGA showed a non-significantly higher rate of composite APO in comparison to SGA (52% vs. 43%; p = 0.202). The composite APO rate was significantly higher in SGA with CPR <10th centile (36% vs. 13%; p = 0.001), while in VSGA with CPR <10th centile was not (38% vs. 35%; p = 0.818). The composite APO rate was non-significantly higher both in VSGA (26% vs. 10%; p = 0.081) and SGA (14% vs. 6%; p = 0.742) with mUtA-PI >95th centile. The ROC analysis showed a significantly predictive value of CPR for composite APO in SGA only (AUC 0.612; p = 0.025). A low CPR was associated with composite APO in SGA fetuses. VSGA fetuses were more frequently affected by composite APO regardless of Doppler values. The predictive performance of CPR and uterine artery Doppler was poor.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the association between CPR and mUtA-PI with adverse perinatal outcomes in VSGA and SGA fetuses, finding that CPR had predictive value for adverse perinatal outcomes in SGA, while VSGA fetuses were more frequently affected by adverse perinatal outcomes regardless of Doppler values.