title: Variable decelerations of the fetal heart rate during antenatal monitoring.
abstract: Variable decelerations were observed in only 52 (0,75%) of 4 509 patients in whom the fetal heart rate was monitored antenatally. In 14 patients fetal monitoring was performed less than 1 week before the test with variable decelerations. The results of 9 of these tests were normal. Tests were repeated within 1 week in 16 patients; normal results were seen in 11 of these. Fetal movements and acceleration patterns of the fetal heart rate occurred in 54% and 23% of patients respectively. The interval between testing and delivery ranged from 0 to 98 days, with a mean of 14 days, and there were no intra-uterine deaths. Fetal distress during labour was rare. Fetal outcome was favourable in only 4 of the 7 cases in which variable decelerations were complicated by reduced beat-to-beat variability. Variable decelerations during the antepartum period therefore do not necessarily indicate a complicated labour.
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005318:Fetal Heart / Q000502:physiology*; D005323:Fetal Monitoring; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D007743:Labor, Obstetric; D011247:Pregnancy; D011379:Prognosis; D013997:Time Factors