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Birthweight by gestational age in preterm babies according to a Gaussian mixture model
Author(s) -
Tentoni Stefania,
Astolfi Paola,
Pasquale Antonio,
Zonta Laura A.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
bjog: an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.157
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1471-0528
pISSN - 1470-0328
DOI - 10.1046/j.1471-0528.2003.00006.x
Subject(s) - gestational age , medicine , parity (physics) , statistics , pediatrics , population , gestation , small for gestational age , cluster analysis , obstetrics , pregnancy , mathematics , physics , genetics , environmental health , particle physics , biology
Objective To provide a statistically sound criterion for identifying implausibly large birthweights for gestational age. Design Review of ISTAT 1990–1994 national newborn records. Setting Italy Population Forty‐two thousand and twenty‐nine single first and second liveborn preterm babies. Methods Two‐component Gaussian mixture models are used to describe the birthweight distributions stratified by gestational age. Implausibly large babies are identified through model‐based probabilistic clustering. Main outcome measures Gestational age misclassification and weight‐for‐gestational age centile curves Results Gestational age appears under‐estimated by about six weeks in 12.3% of the cases. Large babies are equally present in males and females, but are more frequent in second‐borns than in first‐borns, even when parity‐specific models are fitted. Conclusions The approach allows for a quantification of the gestational age under‐estimate error and for data correction through model‐based clustering. Correct birthweight distributions and growth curves are also provided.