RESUMO
This work aimed to establish standard intra-uterine charts for Upper Egyptian fetuses aged from the 14th gestational week up to 40th gestational week. It included 2460 pregnant women attending the antenatal clinic of the Obstetrics and Gynecology department in the period from October 1992 to July 1994. Using a real time ultrasound apparatus, the following fetal growth parameters were measured; bi- parietal diameter, femur length, abdominal circumference and fetal weight. The study constructed standard growth charts for the previous fetal growth parameters for Upper Egyptian fetuses in the form of growth tables. This work also evaluated the rate of intrauterine growth of the studied parameters that can be of help when abnormal fetal growth is suspected. This work reveled that fetal sex had an ill-defined effect on fetal growth. However, male fetuses tend to be heavier than female fetuses. This difference was found to be insignificant as indicated by T-test. It had also been found that maternal parity had no marked effect on fetal growth parameters in subsequent babies after the first baby. The study found that there was a difference between fetal growth parameters of Upper Egyptians and those of other populations. This difference pointed to the need of the use of such standard growth charts for each locality obtained from its own population