title: Correlation between fetal movement revealed in actography and fetal-neonatal well-being: observational study on 3,805 pregnancies followed in a Northern Italy tertiary care hospital.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the correlation between fetal movement revealed in cardiotocography and fetal-neonatal well-being as well as to assess the value of cardiotocography in our clinical practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective analysis of 3,805 pregnancies followed at Parma General Hospital. Exclusion criteria were cesarean section, preterm delivery, and stillbirth. We analyzed the predictive power of actography during the dilating and expulsive phases of labor by establishing a correlation between number of fetal movements and our neonatal indexes of well being, i.e., cardiotocographic score, Apgar index and neonatal pH value. Statistical tests used were Fisher's test, chi-square test (X2), Pearson correlation and Spearman Rho; p value was considered significant if it was less than 0.05.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We considered 2,389 vaginal deliveries. Analyzing the correlation between fetal movement and cardiotocographic score in the two different phases of labor, the comparison among subpopulations identified by different cardiotocograph scores revealed no statistical difference.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Cardiotocography is reconfirmed as a good instrument to evaluate neonatal outcome, while actigraphy cannot be used alone to define fetal well-being, mainly due to the inability to standardize assessment of the actographic study.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Medical Center Parma, Italy. titosilvio.patrelli@gmail.com
authors.forename: T S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Patrelli
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: D'Addetta
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gizzo
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Franchi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Di Gangi
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sianesi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Peri
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pedrazzi
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Berretta
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Piantelli
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lukanovic
authors.forename: G B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Nardelli
authors.forename: A Bacchi
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Modena
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015148:Cardiotocography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005311:Fetal Hypoxia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005324:Fetal Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D005865:Gestational Age; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D007745:Labor Onset / Q000502:physiology*; D018743:Perinatal Care; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D012189:Retrospective Studies