We evaluated the applicability of World Health Organization (WHO) fetal growth charts for abdominal circumference (AC), femur length (FL) and estimated fetal weight (EFW) at the second and third trimester ultrasounds in a French birth cohort.

Using the ELFE cohort of live births after 33 weeks’ gestation in France in 2011, we selected 7747 singletons with fetal biometric measurements at the second (20–25 weeks) and third (30–35 weeks) trimester routine ultrasounds.

We calculated proportions of fetuses <3rd and <10th percentiles and >90th and >97th percentiles for AC, FL and EFW using WHO charts and two international (Intergrowth and Hadlock) and two national (Salomon and CFEF) charts. Analyses were also carried out in a subsample of 4427 low-risk births.