title: Father's heart beat responds to the birth of his child.
abstract: We monitored the electrocardiogram of 20 fathers while their child was born. Paternal heart rate rose on average by 53% during delivery from the starting point frequency (72 beats/min.) to the maximum (115 beats/min.) just before the birth of the child. Judging from the heart rate variation, paternal sympathetic activity increased by 25% and vagal tone decreased by 22% during delivery. No derangements in cardiac function were encountered, not even in the man who fainted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Finland.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kurki
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Toivonen
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ylikorkala
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005220:Fathers; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007743:Labor, Obstetric; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*