Partial dependence of ultrasonically estimated fetal weight on biometric parameters

Objectives: To assess the contribution of each sonographically measured parameter on fetal weight formulas. Methods: Multiple datasets and datasets extracted from existing literature are employed in this study. The Sobol’ method is then implemented on each of these datasets. Following this, bootstrapping is carried out using the indices from individual weeks as sample points. The mean value for each resulting sample is calculated. Finally, the median, along with a 95% confidence interval, is estimated based on the empirical distribution. This methodology is repeated for all formulas examined. Results: The median, along with a 95% CI, for the estimate of the mean of the Sobol’ sensitivity indices for the parameters of 29 known formulas are presented. Conclusions: Depending on the formula, the values of some parameters show substantial fluctuations or are insignificant to the fetal weight estimation.