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xMerits of an individualized approach to fetal movement counting compared with fixed‐time and fixed‐number methods
Author(s) -
GRANT ADRIAN,
HEPBURN MARY
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
bjog: an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.157
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1471-0528
pISSN - 1470-0328
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-0528.1984.tb15081.x
Subject(s) - alarm , constant false alarm rate , fetal movement , computer science , medicine , pregnancy , statistics , mathematics , fetus , artificial intelligence , biology , materials science , composite material , genetics
Summary. The most commonly employed methods for maternal counting of fetal movements take no account of variation in the level of activity between fetuses. This may result in false alarms or prolonged counting in pregnancies in which perceived movements are infrequent. A new counting method is described in which an individualized hourly rate of perceived movements is first calculated for each patient; then, the time taken to feel this number is recorded each day for the remainder of the pregnancy. The new system is associated with a substantially lower false alarm rate than a system of counting for an hour and continuing for a second hour if the level is low. In comparison with the Cardiff ‘count‐to‐10’ method, the amount of time spent counting each day was more uniform and was halved overall. Although this system is more complicated to initiate these clear advantages suggest that it should be subjected to large‐scale feasibility trials.