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Antenatal origins of individual differences in heart rate
Author(s) -
DiPietro Janet A.,
Costigan Kathleen A.,
Pressman Eva K.,
DoussardRoosevelt Jane A.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/1098-2302(2000)37:4<221::aid-dev2>3.0.co;2-a
Subject(s) - heart rate , gestation , fetus , oxygen saturation , fetal heart rate , medicine , blood pressure , heart rate variability , gestational age , cardiology , obstetrics , pregnancy , oxygen , biology , chemistry , organic chemistry , genetics
This study examines prenatal‐to‐postnatal stability in heart rate and variability from mid‐gestation through the first year of life. Fetal heart rate data were collected from 52 healthy fetuses at 24, 30, and 36 weeks gestation, and again at 2 weeks and 12 months of age. Fetal heart rate measures were stable during gestation and positively associated with neonatal and infant measures. Maternal pulse rate and oxygen saturation were moderately associated with fetal heart rate. Together, fetal cardiac (heart rate and variability) and maternal physiologic measures (blood pressure and oxygen saturation) explained 40 and 48% of the variance in heart rate and variability, respectively, at 1 year of age. These common measures of individual differences in autonomic function are enduring characteristics that originate during fetal development. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 37: 221–228, 2000