• Ezra Aydin, Rosemary Holt, Daren Chaplin, Rebecca Hawkes, Carrie Allison, Gerald Hackett, Topun Austin, Alex Tsompanidis, Lidia Gabis, Shimrit Ilana Ziv, and Simon Baron-Cohen.
• Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
• Prenat. Diagn. 2019 Jun 1; 39 (7): 527-535.

ObjectiveThis study measured anogenital distance (AGD) during late second/early third trimester of pregnancy to confirm previous findings that AGD can be measured noninvasively in the fetus using ultrasound and further showed differences in reference ranges between populations.MethodTwo hundred ten singleton pregnancies were recruited at the Rosie Hospital, Cambridge, UK. A 2D ultrasound was performed between 26 and 30 weeks of pregnancy. AGD was measured from the centre of the anus to the base of the scrotum in males and to the posterior convergence of the fourchette in females.ResultsA significant difference in AGD between males and females (P < .0001) was found, replicating previous results with a significant correlation between estimated fetal weight (EFW) and AGD in males only (P = .006). A comparison of AGD using reference data from an Israeli sample (n = 118) and our UK sample (n = 208) showed a significant difference (P < .0001) in both males and females, after controlling for gestational age (GA).ConclusionOur results confirm that AGD measurement in utero using ultrasound is feasible. In addition, there are strong sex differences, consistent with previous suggestions that AGD is influenced by prenatal androgen exposure. AGD lengths differ between the UK and Israel; therefore, population-specific normative values may be required for accurate clinical assessments.© 2019 The Authors. Prenatal Diagnosis Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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