Objective:

Birthweight by gestational age charts enable fetal growth to be evaluated in a specific population. Given that maternal profile and obstetric practice have undergone a remarkable change over the past few decades in Spain, this paper presents new Spanish reference percentile charts stratified by gender, parity and type of delivery. They have been prepared with data from the 2010-2014 period of the Spanish Birth Statistics Bulletin.

Methods:

Reference charts have been prepared using the LMS method, corresponding to 1,428,769 single, live births born to Spanish mothers. Percentile values and mean birth weight are compared among newborns according to gender, parity and type of delivery.

Results:

Newborns to primiparous mothers show significantly lower birthweight than those born to multiparous mothers (p < 0.036). Caesarean section was associated with a substantially lower birthweight in preterm births (p < 0.048), and with a substantially higher birthweight for full-term deliveries (p < 0.030). Prevalence of small for gestational age is significantly higher in newborns born by Caesarean section, both in primiparous (p < 0.08) and multiparous mothers (p < 0.027) and, conversely, the prevalence of large for gestational age among full-term births is again greater both in primiparous (p < 0.035) and in multiparous mothers (p < 0.007).

Conclusions:

Results support the consideration of establishing parity and type of delivery-specific birthweight references. These new charts enable a better evaluation of the impact of the demographic, reproductive and obstetric trends currently in Spain on fetal growth.

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