Diurnal non-stress test variations in healthy term fetuses. A call for evening appointments for fetal testing.
OBJECTIVE
The null hypothesis is that the time of day during which non-stress testing is performed does not influence the reactivity of the test.


METHODS
Fetal heart rate (FHR) monitoring was performed in 65 healthy term fetuses at 09:00, 14:00 and 21:00 h, in a quiet room exposed to daylight 2 h after maternal meals. Each session lasted 20 min. Smoking mothers were excluded. Statistical analysis was performed using a double-tailed t-test.


RESULTS
Diurnal non-stress test (NST) variations exist and are manifested by a higher incidence of a reactive NST at 21:00 h compared to a 09:00 h assessment, and an increased number and longer duration of accelerations during a 20-min observation period at 21:00 h compared to a 09:00 h assessment.


CONCLUSIONS
Evening appointments for fetal assessments may eliminate the need for additional tests due to the decreased incidence of nonreactive NSTs. These in turn will decrease both maternal anxiety and the expense of further testing.
Petrikovsky
B M
BM
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset, NY 11030, USA.
Kaplan
G P
GP
D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005323:Fetal Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D006340:Heart Rate, Fetal / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D012016:Reference Values