Fetal movements registered by the pregnant woman correlated to retrospective estimations of fetal movements from cardiotocographic tracings.
After reviewing 30 cardiotocographic tracings from 15 pregnant women who directly registered fetal movements (FM) on the cardiotocographic (CT) tracings, we have found no correlation between the actual number of FM and the FM found by retrospective estimation from CT tracings. Ours is the first study to show this lack of correlation. On the contrary, we have found that by using the "retrospective" or "indirect" methods, almost 90% of the FM are overlooked. This is a very important loss of information since registration of FM seems to be a good method for surveillance of the fetus at risk. We also discuss our own methods for overcoming these problems.
D005260:Female; D005318:Fetal Heart; D005333:Fetus / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008722:Methods; D009068:Movement; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000503:physiopathology; D011263:Pregnancy Trimester, Third; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012306:Risk; D014590:Uterine Contraction