The Course of Delivery and Perinatal Outcomes for Postterm Pregnancy.

Ko, Man Suk; Jung, Jin Kook; Lee, Ho Hyung; Jung, Byoung Wook; Choi, Ho Jun; Shin, Seung Kwan

Original Article

Korean Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology 1999;42(8):1665-1670.
Published online January 1, 2001.

The Course of Delivery and Perinatal Outcomes for Postterm Pregnancy.

Man Suk Ko, Jin Kook Jung, Ho Hyung Lee, Byoung Wook Jung, Ho Jun Choi, Seung Kwan Shin

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to evaluate of course of delivery & perinatal outcomes for postterm pregnancy compared with fullterm pregnancy. METHODS: This study included 360 cases of postterm pregnancy out of 16,992 cases delivered at Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology from January 1, 1993 to December 31, 1997. 16,143 cases of full term deliveries of 38 to 42 gestational weeks conducted in same period were used as the control group. Postterm pregnancy was defined as a pregnancy that it exceeds 295 days calculated from first day of the last menstrual period. RESULTS: The incidence of postterm pregnancy was 2.13% with the highest incidence occurring in the 26 ~30 years age group. This study group was significantly different from the control group in the incidence of fetal distress (10.28% vs. 2.20%), large fetus (10.83% vs. 6.95%), perinatal death (1.67% vs. 0.27%). CONCLUSIONS: Adverse perinatal outcomes were increased markedly as the gestational weeks to be prolonged. Therefore, careful prenatal care, accurate determination of delivery date is very important.

Key Words: Postterm pregnancy, Fetal distress, Perinatal outcomes, Large fetus