Gagliardi L, Scimone F, DelPrete A, Petecca C, Stival G, Pasinetti G, Teani M, Bianchi P, Marani M, Duca P
Department of Neonatology, Niguarda-Ca'Granda, Italy.
Acta Paediatr. 1992 Feb;81(2):95-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1992.tb12181.x.
The precision of the Ballard scale for assessing gestational age (GA) was evaluated in a consecutive sample of 227 preterm and/or low-birth-weight neonates. Each newborn was rated independently by two neonatologists and the difference in GA estimation between them was computed. The estimated precision was not high, the 95% tolerance interval estimate being as large as 7.4 weeks. The precision of the neurologic and physical parts of the scale was poorer than that of the complete scale (95% of differences less than 10.5 and 9.2 weeks respectively), and more influenced by the type of delivery. These findings are not unexpected from statistical theory, and cast doubts on the use of only the physical part of the Ballard scale in assessing GA, since greater accuracy could be accompanied by reduced precision.
在227例连续的早产和/或低出生体重新生儿样本中，评估了巴拉德量表用于评估胎龄（GA）的准确性。两名新生儿科医生分别对每名新生儿进行独立评分，并计算他们之间胎龄估计值的差异。估计的准确性不高，95%的容忍区间估计值高达7.4周。该量表神经学和身体部分的准确性低于完整量表（差异分别有95%小于10.5周和9.2周），且受分娩方式的影响更大。从统计理论来看，这些发现并不意外，这也让人质疑仅使用巴拉德量表的身体部分来评估胎龄的做法，因为更高的准确性可能伴随着更低的精确性。
