UK Wedding News
07/08/2013
New research has suggested that pregnant women should not take their due date literally, as the time a baby spends in the womb can vary by up to five weeks.
The study, which has been published online in the journal Human Reproduction, confirmed what many mothers-to-be are often told – that the baby will comes when it's ready.
It also found barely one woman in 20 delivers on her actual due date, while around three-quarters of babies arrive within 10 days of the expected date.
The research looked at 125 mothers-to-be and discovered the average length of pregnancy was revealed to be just over 38 weeks. However, this could vary by as much as 37 days, meaning terms could vary between 37 and 42 weeks.
Dr Anne Marie Jukic, a postdoctoral fellow in the Epidemiology Branch at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in the US, explained: "We found that the average time from ovulation to birth was 268 days – 38 weeks and two days.
"The length of the pregnancies varied by as much as 37 days. We were a bit surprised by this finding.
"We know that length of gestation varies among women, but some part of that variation has always been attributed to errors in the assignment of gestational age. Our measure of length of gestation does not include these sources of error, and yet there is still five weeks of variability. It's fascinating."
The researchers were able to pinpoint when a woman became pregnant by using information from daily urine samples collected for another study, and followed the pregnancies from conception through to birth. Of the women who took part in the study, only 4% delivered at exactly 280 days, with a further 70% giving birth within 10 days of their due date.
On average, older women were found to deliver later, with each year of age adding approximately one day to their pregnancy, while women who had themselves been heavier at birth had longer gestations.
The report added: "The length of human gestation varies considerably among healthy pregnancies, even when ovulation is accurately measured.
"This variability is greater than suggested by the clinical assignment of a single due date.
"We also found that events in the first two weeks after conception were strongly predictive of the total length of pregnancy, suggesting that the trajectory for the timing of delivery may be set in early pregnancy."
(JP/MH)
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1 in 20 Women 'Give Birth On Due Date'
New research has suggested that pregnant women should not take their due date literally, as the time a baby spends in the womb can vary by up to five weeks.
The study, which has been published online in the journal Human Reproduction, confirmed what many mothers-to-be are often told – that the baby will comes when it's ready.
It also found barely one woman in 20 delivers on her actual due date, while around three-quarters of babies arrive within 10 days of the expected date.
The research looked at 125 mothers-to-be and discovered the average length of pregnancy was revealed to be just over 38 weeks. However, this could vary by as much as 37 days, meaning terms could vary between 37 and 42 weeks.
Dr Anne Marie Jukic, a postdoctoral fellow in the Epidemiology Branch at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in the US, explained: "We found that the average time from ovulation to birth was 268 days – 38 weeks and two days.
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"The length of the pregnancies varied by as much as 37 days. We were a bit surprised by this finding.
"We know that length of gestation varies among women, but some part of that variation has always been attributed to errors in the assignment of gestational age. Our measure of length of gestation does not include these sources of error, and yet there is still five weeks of variability. It's fascinating."
The researchers were able to pinpoint when a woman became pregnant by using information from daily urine samples collected for another study, and followed the pregnancies from conception through to birth. Of the women who took part in the study, only 4% delivered at exactly 280 days, with a further 70% giving birth within 10 days of their due date.
On average, older women were found to deliver later, with each year of age adding approximately one day to their pregnancy, while women who had themselves been heavier at birth had longer gestations.
The report added: "The length of human gestation varies considerably among healthy pregnancies, even when ovulation is accurately measured.
"This variability is greater than suggested by the clinical assignment of a single due date.
"We also found that events in the first two weeks after conception were strongly predictive of the total length of pregnancy, suggesting that the trajectory for the timing of delivery may be set in early pregnancy."
(JP/MH)
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