Continuous electronic monitoring of fetal heart rate during labor

Abstract At the University of Utah Medical Center, 749 labors were monitored electronically. All labors were monitored where feasible; there was no distinction between normal and high-risk pregnancies. The cesarean section rate during this time was 6 per cent compared to 3.5 per cent for the 2 previous years. Late and variable deceleration patterns were found in 41 per cent of these cases, and, of these, 66.2 per cent showed Agar scores of 6 or less at one minute. There were 72 cases of late deceleration, 53 had placentas of 400 grams or less, and, of these, 40 had a low Apgar score. Two hundred and thirty-six variable deceleration patterns were found; 178 had cord problems and 145 of these had low Apgar scores. The perinatal mortality rate decreased from 29.49, in 1970, to 18.2 during the monitoring period. Neonatal deaths decreased by two thirds.