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Computerized analysis of fetal heart rate variability signal during the stages of labor
Author(s) -
Annunziata Maria Laura,
Tagliaferri Salvatore,
Esposito Francesca Giovanna,
Giuliano Natascia,
Mereghini Flavia,
Di Lieto Andrea,
Campanile Marta
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of obstetrics and gynaecology research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.597
H-Index - 50
eISSN - 1447-0756
pISSN - 1341-8076
DOI - 10.1111/jog.12908
Subject(s) - medicine , bonferroni correction , fetal heart rate , wilcoxon signed rank test , fetus , heart rate , autonomic nervous system , heart rate variability , approximate entropy , cardiology , cardiotocography , pregnancy , blood pressure , statistics , mann–whitney u test , time series , biology , mathematics , genetics
Aim To analyze computerized cardiotocographic (cCTG) parameters (baseline fetal heart rate, baseline FHR; short term variability, STV; approximate entropy, ApEn; low frequency, LF; movement frequency, MF; high frequency, HF) in physiological pregnancy in order to correlate them with the stages of labor. This could provide more information for understanding the mechanisms of nervous system control of FHR during labor progression. Methods A total of 534 pregnant women were monitored on cCTG from the 37th week before the onset of spontaneous labor and during the first and the second stage of labor. Statistical analysis was performed using Kruskal–Wallis test and Wilcoxon rank‐sum test with the Bonferroni adjusted α (< 0.05). Results Statistically significant differences were seen between baseline FHR, MF and HF ( P < 0.001), in which the first two were reduced and the third was increased when compared between pre‐labor, and the first and second stages of labor. Differences between some of the stages were found for ApEn, LF and for LF/(HF + MF), where the first and the third were reduced and the second was increased. Conclusions cCTG modifications during labor may reflect the physiologic increased activation of the autonomous nervous system. Using computerized fetal heart rate analysis during labor it may be possible to obtain more information from the fetal cardiac signal, in comparison with the traditional tracing.