A symphysis fundal height nomogram for Lusaka

Abstract

The aim of this study was to construct a symphyseal fundal height (SFH) nomogram for Lusaka and was conducted at the University Teaching Hospital. This was a descriptive prospective study of 276 healthy women with uncomplicated pregnancies between 20 and 42 weeks gestation, whose SFH was measured In centimeters. A SFH nomogram was then constructed from a total number of 4-20 SFH measurements on 100 patients. The growth of the fundus was almost linear up to 40 weeks. The SFH did not decrease towards term and the often described phenomen of "lightening" was not observed. Analysis of SFH measurements showed that 9 out of 1C twin pregnancies would have been detected by this method.