IJE Advance Access originally published online on February 26, 2008
International Journal of Epidemiology 2008 37(2):254-255; doi:10.1093/ije/dyn026
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Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association © The Author 2008; all rights reserved.
Commentary: A need for unconstrained thinking on foetal growth
National Institute of Public Health Post Office Box 4404, 0403 Oslo, Norway. E-mail: Per.magnus@fhi.no
Accepted 21 January 2008
| The first 10% of the full text of this article appears below. |
Foetal growth is a fascinating and poorly understood biological phenomenon in humans. There are two main avenues of interest. One is the study of deviant growth patterns, which is best detected by serial measurements of individual pregnant women in a clinical setting. The other is the analysis and interpretation of data sets, where birth weight or other measures of foetal growth are either the outcome or the exposure. During