The Regional Centralization of Electronic Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring and Its Impact on Neonatal Acidemia and the Cesarean Birth Rate

Unexpected Term Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Admissions and a Potential Role for Centralized Remote Fetal Monitoring

OBJECTIVE

Centralized remote fetal monitoring (CRFM) has been proposed as a method to improve the performance of intrapartum fetal heart rate (FHR) monitoring and perinatal outcomes. The purpose of this study is to determine whether CRFM was associated with a reduction in unexpected term neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admissions.

STUDY DESIGN

A pre-post design was used to examine the effectiveness of CRFM which was implemented in stages across five hospitals. The exposure group was all women who underwent intrapartum monitoring via CRFM. The unexposed group was of women who delivered at the same hospitals prior to implementation of CRFM. Pregnancies with expected NICU admissions, gestational age <37 weeks, birth weight <2,500 g, or major fetal anomalies detected prenatally were excluded. The primary outcome was unexpected term NICU admission; secondary outcomes were cesarean and operative vaginal delivery (OVD), and 5-minute Apgar's score of <7 rates. Maternal and delivery characteristics were examined with Student's t, Wilcoxon's, Chi-square, and Fisher's exact tests. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to control for potential confounders.

RESULTS

There were 19,392 live births included in this analysis. In the univariable analysis, the odds of unexpected term NICU admission was lower among the CRFM exposed group compared with the unexposed group (odds ratio [OR] = 0.86, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.75-0.99; p = 0.038). In multivariable analysis, this did not reach statistical significance (OR = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.79-1.06; p = 0.24). Cesarean and OVD were less likely in the exposed group (OR = 0.91, 95% CI: 0.85-0.97; p = 0.008) and (OR = 0.70, 95% CI: 0.59-0.83, p < 0.001), respectively, in univariable analysis. When adjusted for potential confounders, the effect remained statistically significant for cesarean delivery (OR = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.85-0.98; p = 0.012). When adjusted for hospital, OVD rate was lower at the highest volume and highest acuity site (OR = 0.48, 95% CI: 0.36-0.65, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

In some practice settings, utilization of a CRFM system may decrease the risk of unexpected term NICU admission, cesarean, and OVD rate.

KEY POINTS

· CRFM may decrease unexpected term NICU admissions in some clinical settings.. · CRFM may decrease cesarean delivery rates in some clinical settings.. · CRFM may decrease OVD rates in some clinical settings..

Intrapartum Fetal Heart Rate: A Possible Predictor of Neonatal Acidemia and APGAR Score

Background: Predicting perinatal outcomes based on patterns of fetal heart rate (FHR) remains a challenge. The aim of this study was to evaluate intrapartum FHR variability as predictor for neonatal acidemia and APGAR score.

Methods: This was a retrospective observational study of 552 childbirths. Multivariable linear regression models were used to assess the association between FHR variability and each of the following outcomes: arterial cord blood pH and base deficit, Apgar 1, and 5 scores. Variables used for adjustment were maternal age, comorbidities (gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, maternal fever, and hypertension), parity, gravidity, uterine contractions, and newborn gestational age, and weight at birth.

Results: The following factors were associated with an increased risk of metabolic acidosis and low Apgar scores at birth: increased mean and coefficient of variation (CV) of the FHR, type of delivery and decreased parity. Each 10-beat/min increase in the FHR was associated with an increase of 0.43 mEq/L in the base deficit, and a decrease of 0.01 in the pH, 0.2 in the Apgar 1, and 0.14 in the Apgar 5 scores. Each 10% increase in the CV of the FHR was associated with an increase of 4.05 mEq/L in the base deficit and a decrease of 0.13 in the pH, 1.31 in the Apgar 1, and 0.86 in the Apgar 5 scores.

Conclusion: These data suggest the intrapartum FHR variability is physiologically relevant and can be used for predicting the acidemia and Apgar scores at birth of the newborn infants without severe cases of morbidity and from uncomplicated pregnancies.

A Comprehensive Evaluation of the Predictive Abilities of Fetal Electrocardiogram-Derived Parameters during Labor in Newborn Acidemia: Our Institutional Experience

This study aimed to identify cardiotocography patterns that discriminate fetal acidemia newborns by comprehensively evaluating the parameters obtained from Holter monitoring during delivery. Between June 1, 2015, and August 1, 2016, a prospective observational study of 85 patients was conducted using fetal Holter monitoring at the Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Capital Medical University, China. Umbilical cord blood was sampled immediately after delivery and fetal acidemia was defined as umbilical cord arterial blood pH < 7.20. Fetal electrocardiogram- (FECG-) derived parameters, including basal fetal heart rate (BFHR), short-term variation (STV), large acceleration (LA), deceleration capacity (DC), acceleration capacity (AC), proportion of episodes of high variation (PEHV), and proportion of episodes of low variation (PELV), were compared between 16 fetuses with acidemia and 47 without. The areas under the curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristics (ROC) were calculated. Although all the computerized parameters showed predictive values for acidemia (all AUC > 0.50), STV (AUC = 0.84, P < 0.001), DC (AUC = 0.84, P < 0.001), AC (AUC = 0.80, P < 0.001), and PELV (AUC = 0.71, P = 0.012) were more strongly associated with fetal acidemia. Our institutional experience suggests that FECG-derived parameters from Holter monitoring are beneficial in reducing the incidence of neonatal acidemia.

A prospective cohort study of fetal heart rate monitoring: deceleration area is predictive of fetal acidemia

BACKGROUND

Intrapartum electronic fetal monitoring is the most commonly used tool in obstetrics in the United States; however, which electronic fetal monitoring patterns predict acidemia remains unclear.

OBJECTIVE

This study was designed to describe the frequency of patterns seen in labor using modern nomenclature, and to test the hypothesis that visually interpreted patterns are associated with acidemia and morbidities in term infants. We further identified patterns prior to delivery, alone or in combination, predictive of acidemia and neonatal morbidity.

STUDY DESIGN

This was a prospective cohort study of 8580 women from 2010 through 2015. Patients were all consecutive women laboring at ≥37 weeks' gestation with a singleton cephalic fetus. Electronic fetal monitoring patterns during the 120 minutes prior to delivery were interpreted in 10-minute epochs. Interpretation included the category system and individual electronic fetal monitoring patterns per the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development criteria as well as novel patterns. The primary outcome was fetal acidemia (umbilical artery pH ≤7.10); neonatal morbidities were also assessed. Final regression models for acidemia adjusted for nulliparity, pregestational diabetes, and advanced maternal age. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curves were used to assess the test characteristics of individual models for acidemia and neonatal morbidity.

RESULTS

Of 8580 women, 149 (1.7%) delivered acidemic infants. Composite neonatal morbidity was diagnosed in 757 (8.8%) neonates within the total cohort. Persistent category I, and 10-minute period of category III, were significantly associated with normal pH and acidemia, respectively. Total deceleration area was most discriminative of acidemia (area under the receiver operating characteristic curves, 0.76; 95% confidence interval, 0.72-0.80), and deceleration area with any 10 minutes of tachycardia had the greatest discriminative ability for neonatal morbidity (area under the receiver operating characteristic curves, 0.77; 95% confidence interval, 0.75-0.79). Once the threshold of deceleration area is reached the number of cesareans needed-to-be performed to potentially prevent 1 case of acidemia and morbidity is 5 and 6, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Deceleration area is the most predictive electronic fetal monitoring pattern for acidemia, and combined with tachycardia for significant risk of morbidity, from the electronic fetal monitoring patterns studied. It is important to acknowledge that this study was performed in patients delivering ≥37 weeks, which may limit the generalizability to preterm populations. We also did not use computerized analysis of the electronic fetal monitoring patterns because human visual interpretation was the basis for the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development categories, and importantly, it is how electronic fetal monitoring is used clinically.

Segregation of Patients for Intrapartum Monitoring, using Robson's Classification

INTRODUCTION

Monitoring labour by intermittent or continuous foetal heart rate monitoring has been discussed widely in literature. Robson's classification has categorized pregnant women in ten groups. The study proposes to examine in which patients one must recommend continuous or intermittent foetal heart rate monitoring.

AIM

To study the effect of Continuous Electronic Foetal Monitoring (CEFM) on the overall rate of operative deliveries as well as the rate using Robson's classification and the neonatal outcome.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

After Institutional Review Board approval, low risk parturients with a reactive foetal heart rate at arrival in labour were prospectively analysed. Women with a previous caesarean section, those requiring elective caesarean section and having high risk factors were excluded. Patient details, history, examination findings and the method of monitoring, whether continuous or intermittent was noted. 1803 women were monitored by CEFM and 2107 by intermittent auscultation. In both the groups of intrapartum monitoring, suspected foetal distress was followed by immediate intervention in the form of caesarean section or operative vaginal delivery without resorting to any other monitoring methods such as foetal scalp blood sampling, as per the institutional policy. Comparison was based on the need for operative deliveries in view of presumed foetal distress and the neonatal outcome between the two groups of monitoring and further in each Robson's class. Results were assessed using IBM® SPSS Version 22.0, Chi-square test, considering p<0.05 as significant.

RESULTS

Operative deliveries in view of suspected foetal distress increased and the neonatal outcome was better with CEFM. Assessing in each Robson's class, only class 4A, 7A and 10A results were consistent with the overall outcome. In others (class 2A), women experienced reduced rate of operative deliveries and better neonatal outcome with CEFM. In yet others, there was no benefit with CEFM as there were increased operative deliveries without any difference in the neonatal outcome.

CONCLUSION

Segregation of patients for intrapartum monitoring using Robson's classification would result in decreased operative deliveries and a better neonatal outcome.