Clinical associations with uterine tachysystole

AbstractObjectives: To determine the incidence of uterine tachysystole (UT) and its association with neonatal depression or metabolic acidemia (DEP).Methods: This retrospective study comprised all 6234 women at ≥37 weeks’ gestation who were monitored during the last 4 hours of tracings before birth in an academic community hospital. DEP was defined by an umbilical artery base deficit value ≥10 mmol/L or a 5-minute Apgar ≤6 and included 77 births. UT was defined by >15 contractions in 30 minutes.Results: The overall incidence of UT was 18.3% (1139/6234). In 4.2% (260/6234) UT persisted for >60 min. The rate of UT was similar in births with DEP (14.3%, 11/77) compared to those without DEP (18.3%, 1128/6157; p = 0.45). In births with UT, only 1.0% (11/1139) developed DEP. The DEP group had more decelerations at almost every level of contractions and a higher cesarean rate of 49.4% (38/77) compared to 24.0% (1468/6124); p = <0.001 in the group without DEP.Conclusions: UT was common, occasionally prolonged and...