Human fetal breathing: associated changes in heart rate and beat-to-beat variability.
A computerized quantification of fetal heart rate and beat-to-beat variability was performed during and between fetal breathing episodes. Sixteen healthy pregnant women at term participated in the study. The results indicate that fetal breathing is associated with a significant increase in beat-to-beat variability (from 4.48 +/- 1.66 between breathing episodes to 5.80 +/- 2.04 during breathing episodes, p less than 0.01) and a small but significant decrease in fetal heart rate (from 142.7 +/- 8.6 bpm between breathing episodes to 140.4 +/- 8.6 bpm during breathing episodes, p less than 0.05).
D005260:Female; D005318:Fetal Heart / Q000502:physiology; D005323:Fetal Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D005333:Fetus / Q000502:physiology*; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D012119:Respiration