title: Maternal perception of fetal movement type: the effect of gestational age and maternal factors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess maternal perception of fetal movement types and its association with maternal factors in normal pregnancies with good pregnancy outcome.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was conducted on 729 normotensive singleton pregnant women with good pregnancy outcome who had referred for prenatal visit. After completing a questionnaire, the participants were asked to count fetal movements for 1 h/3 times/day. They were also asked to identify the type of fetal movement: general body movement (GBM) (rolling and stretching/strong), isolated limb movement (ILM; simple flutter or kicks/weak), trunk movement (TM) (strong jab, startle/strong), or hiccup movement (HM) (high frequency and rapid/weak). All the participants were followed till delivery to exclude pregnant women with preterm birth and/or small for gestational age from the study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  90.8% of participants perceived GBM, which was independently associated with maternal unemployment (OR = 2.28, 95% CI = 1.18-4.4). 74.2% of participants perceived TM, which was associated with multiparity (OR = 1.69, 95% CI = 1.18-2.4). 86.3% perceived ILM, which was independently associated with maternal unemployment (OR = 2.67, 95% CI = 1.53-4.68), lower gestational age (OR = 2.17, 95% CI = 1.28-3.67), perception of fetal movements at night (OR = 2.05, 95% CI = 1.27-3.32), and multiparity (OR = 1.68, 95% CI = 1.04-2.72). 36.6% perceived HM, which was independently associated with higher gestational age (OR = 1.71, 95% CI = 1.2-2.44).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most pregnant women could discriminate changes in fetal movement type that follow a general pattern through the third gestational trimester, however this can be affected by maternal employment, parity and time of perception.
authors.affiliation: Maternal, Fetal and Neonatal Research Center, Vali-asr Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences , Tehran , Iran and.
authors.forename: Sedigheh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hantoushzadeh
authors.forename: Mahdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sheikh
authors.forename: Mamak
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shariat
authors.forename: Zahra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Farahani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004651:Employment / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005324:Fetal Movement; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D010298:Parity; D010465:Perception; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D011263:Pregnancy Trimester, Third / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Feeling; fetus; movements; pregnancy; quality