Fetal Sex and Intrauterine Growth Patterns

Abstract

Female fetuses grow considerably slower than male fetuses, and these differences are observed from early gestation. However, the female fetus is not merely a smaller version of the male fetus, but, rather, there is a sex-specific growth pattern for each of the individual fetal biometric indices. These findings provide support for the use of sex-specific sonographic models for fetal weight estimation as well as the use of sex-specific reference growth charts.