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Explanation: The patient X is 20 weeks and 5 days pregnant...
That is how I would say it...
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 día 1 hora (2019-03-21 22:22:05 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
When I published my answer yesterday I was so sure I did not think it would rise so much controversy.
Deeply similar to the examples and sources Charles is posting, I was thinking about the jargon of pregnant women when I saw this Proz question and I did not doubt what its meaning was. For me, it refers to weeks and days contained in the same number (despite it has a comma as it was for decimals).
At that moment, I was so sure I decided to give an example for the English version because I was sure the Spanish version would be understandable for everybody.
When I was pregnant (twice) and saw other pregnant women talking about their weeks of pregnancy and even doctors writting on it, I always saw this kind of writting (with the first number for the weeks, a dot or comma and another number, for the days).
I thank Charles a lot for all the sources he is providing. I am not finding his answers now. When I find them, I will thank him there.
Anyway, I am still sure of what I decided to post. If I am not sure about something, I do not post anything.
Of course I can be wrong at times, so I am open for the best resolution here and in any other post. But I insist on being sure this time and that is why I proposed my version at the beginning.
As I said above, I never thought it would be needed to provide reference for the term in Spanish. For this reason, I took it for granted and I provided a reference for my version into English.
Hope we can enrich ourselves from this linguistic "controversy" and learn a lot.
I would like to know if Giovanni could ask the original author to make this query clear, although I understand this is difficult. I also want to know which is the best version now.
I just want to thank you all for your comments. I spoke with the mother in question, who said that "20,5" actually means "20 weeks and 5 days", and that's what her doctor meant to say here. I know mathematically it doesn't make sense, but apparently that's how gynecologists express this.
Gestational age is calculated as a number of days, which can be expressed for convenience as weeks and days, by establishing the day on which the pregnancy notionally began. You need this for a number of reasons, both medical and legal (if abortion is illegal from 22 weeks, it is legal at 21 weeks and 6 days). It is a notional date, because it is impossible to be sure. No gynaecologist, a fortiori, would attempt to establish at what time on that day pregnancy began. So a gestational age that involves a fraction of a day is nonsense. You would never say that someone was 20 weeks and 3½ days pregnant. So what would 20.5 (20½) weeks mean? 20 weeks and 3 days or 20 weeks and 4 days? Strictly speaking, the former would be 20.43 and the latter 20.57, or 20.4 and 20.6 to one decimal place. And so on for other numbers of days: it is inherently implausible that you would express gestational age using decimals.
Sin duda la relevancia es limitada (20+3,5 vs. 20+5) pero la aclaración es pertinente; la anotación formal original traslada la idea de una mujer embarazada de 20 semanas más cinco días, tal y como reseñado por Charles. Ningún ginecólogo reflejaria formalmente "embarazada de 20 semanas y media".
Sorry, I didn't realise that. You're right; that reference doesn't demostrate that the answer is correct.
And yes, these estimates, whether based on date of last period or biometric data in the ultrasound, have a margin of error of several days. I've just been trying to provide a proper basis for an accurate translation. I'm now confident that the "decimal" is really a "septimal", as you might say, and that "20,5" means the same as "20+5" (as it's also expressed in Spanish).
The reference I gave was the one quoted by the 1st answerer, using it to support her answer; and following it, it actually says "20 weeks, 5 days" and comes between "20 weeks, 4 days" and "20 weeks, 6 days". But a decimal of a week and days of a week in the "inexact science of estimating pregnancy" is not worth the arguing
"el menor es producto de una segunda gesta nacido por cesárea debido a embarazo de 31,6 semanas, fue hospitalizado en neonatología por 28 días por presentar síndrome de dificultad respiratoria tipo I [...] Antecedentes natales: Nace a las 31 semanas y 6 días por cesárea para mejorar pronóstico [...] Antecedentes postnatales: Hospitalizado en neonatología por 28 días por síndrome de dificultad respiratoria tipo I [...]" http://repo.uta.edu.ec/bitstream/123456789/28834/2/EHI-ANÁLI...
"Muchas anomalías fetales mayores se pueden diagnosticar en esta ecografía a partir de la semana 11 de gestación. Las razones para elegir 13 semanas y 6 días como límite superior son... Examen ultrasonográfico: entre las 11-13,6 semanas de edad gestacional." http://repositorio.unan.edu.ni/4171/1/96808.pdf
Pregunta: "Buenas, acabaron de hacerle un ultrasonido a mi hermana y queremos saber lo que significa, muchas gracias [...] IDX: embarazo de 14.5 SDG por fotometria. [...]" Respuesta: "[...] IDX ( ó impresión diagnóstica: ) Embarazo de 14 semanas y 5 días, por FETOMETRÍA ( escribiste FOTOmetría, que sería la medida de la luz según su etimología ) [...] https://br.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=201206011414... (Obviously SDG = semanas de gestación)
This, admittedly, is from an expectant father, not a medical professional, but I think we can assume it's based on what the medical professionals told him and his partner:
"Se presenta un caso de embarazo intersticial de 22,4 semanas de duración [...] Tiene una fecha de última menstruación el 22 de abril de 2006 para una edad gestacional de 22 semanas y 4 días al ingreso." http://www.bvs.sld.cu/revistas/gin/vol33_3_07/gin05307.html
"Se asignaron en forma aleatoria 863 prematuros (edad gestacional 23 a 27 semanas y 6 días) a recibir bien temprano (en las 24 horas después del nacimiento) budesonide inhalado o placebo [...] En el presente estudio aleatorizado multicéntrico, evaluaron en una extensa cohorte de prematuros extremadamente pequeños (entre 23 y 27,6 semanas) el efecto de la administración desde las primeras 24 horas de budesonide versus placebo." https://www.sap.org.ar/docs/publicaciones/archivosarg/2016/v...
That one legal document is just one example; there are others. I chose it because it is from Colombia, where Giovanni is (though of course I don't know whether his document is from there). Anne's comment, coming from a medical professional, aroused my curiosity, so I tried to find evidence to clarify whether ",5" could mean 5 days. Of course we all know that the comma is used as a decimal separator in general, but this is a special context. Gestational ages/periods of pregnancy, deduced from ultrasound or from the date of the last period, are normally given as a number of weeks and days. I don't think they are ever given to fractions of a day (I've found no positive evidence that they are). So it would be inherently strange to use a decimal (referring to individual patients, I mean; obviously you find cases in statistical contexts referring to groups of patients). And I can't find a "decimal" for an individual patient higher than 6.
The reference you've just cited throws no light at all on the meaning of "20,5". It actually confirms what I've just said: the period is given in weeks and days or just days.
I don't think we can conclude from one legal document from Colombia that the standard Spanish method of a comma for a decimal point is invalid. 0,1 to 0,9 are decimals in Spanish and are converted to 0.1 to 0.9 in English. Therefore, 20,5 in Spanish is 20.5 weeks
Charles Davis, you may be right. (I didn't get input from the RN I married on this one; should have.) Maybe Mr. Rengifo should contact the client for clarification.
Here is a legal document from Colombia concerning a pregnancy. All the gestational ages are given in weeks and days. It says that an ultrasound on 18 August 2010 indicated "embarazo de 22 semanas dos días por biometría fetal" (p. 3). Later this result is referred to again: "una relación de las ecografías efectuadas el 18 de agosto, según la cual la evolución del producto era de 22.2 semanas" (p. 36).
Immediately following this, it refers to "la [ecografía] del 15 de julio que señalaba 15,6 semanas, es decir que para el 19 de agosto serían 20,6 semanas, y la del 24 de mayo que evidenciaba 8.4 semanas, que para el 19 de agosto se traducían en 21 semanas".
So they're extrapolating from earlier ultrasound results. The first, 15,6 to 20,6, doesn't allow us to conclude what ",6" means, but the second is more enlightening. On Monday 24 May 2010 the ultrasound indicated "8,4" weeks. So she would have been "21,4" weeks pregnant on Monday 23 August, exactly 13 weeks later. Therefore, if she was 21 weeks on Thursday 19 August, 4 days earlier, ",4" means 4 days. https://goo.gl/UpvKHZ https://www.calendar-365.com/2010-calendar.html
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
5 hrs confidence:
has completed 20½ weeks of pregnancy, etc.
Explanation: "20,5" in Colombia means the same as "20.5" in the USA. In both cases, you're talking about a percentage - specifically 50% - rather than a number of days.
Stephen D. Moore United States Local time: 12:45 Specializes in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 71
is at (has reached) a stage of pregnancy of 20.5 weeks
Explanation: The word stage might add more medical realism and the past tense of 'has reached a stage' be more natural.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 19 hrs (2019-03-21 16:02:31 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
or: is at a 20.5-week stage of pregnancy
Example sentence(s):
Many women experience no symptoms during this stage of pregnancy .... The majority of babies who are premature and reach this time of gestation will survive
Explanation: The patient X is 20 weeks and 5 days pregnant...
That is how I would say it...
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 día 1 hora (2019-03-21 22:22:05 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
When I published my answer yesterday I was so sure I did not think it would rise so much controversy.
Deeply similar to the examples and sources Charles is posting, I was thinking about the jargon of pregnant women when I saw this Proz question and I did not doubt what its meaning was. For me, it refers to weeks and days contained in the same number (despite it has a comma as it was for decimals).
At that moment, I was so sure I decided to give an example for the English version because I was sure the Spanish version would be understandable for everybody.
When I was pregnant (twice) and saw other pregnant women talking about their weeks of pregnancy and even doctors writting on it, I always saw this kind of writting (with the first number for the weeks, a dot or comma and another number, for the days).
I thank Charles a lot for all the sources he is providing. I am not finding his answers now. When I find them, I will thank him there.
Anyway, I am still sure of what I decided to post. If I am not sure about something, I do not post anything.
Of course I can be wrong at times, so I am open for the best resolution here and in any other post. But I insist on being sure this time and that is why I proposed my version at the beginning.
As I said above, I never thought it would be needed to provide reference for the term in Spanish. For this reason, I took it for granted and I provided a reference for my version into English.
Hope we can enrich ourselves from this linguistic "controversy" and learn a lot.
I would like to know if Giovanni could ask the original author to make this query clear, although I understand this is difficult. I also want to know which is the best version now.
