title: The relationship of a "short period" to conception.
abstract: The case records were examined of 918 patients delivered in 1963 at a London hospital. Comparisons were made between 52 patients who had a "short period" following the presumed date of conception and 155 randomly selected control patients. Patients who had a "short period" showed a significantly higher rate for the induction of labour (p smaller than 0-025) and a lower infant birthweight (0-1 smaller than p smaller than 0-2). Calculation of the menstruation-delivery interval using the "short period" rather than the last full period, gave a closer approximation to the duration of pregnancy found in the random control series of 155 patients.
mesh_terms: D001724:Birth Weight; D005260:Female; D005306:Fertilization; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007751:Labor, Induced; D008598:Menstruation; D011247:Pregnancy; D013997:Time Factors