Temporal organization of fetal behavior from 24-weeks gestation onwards in normal and complicated pregnancies
✍ Scribed by Ilse J. M. Nijhuis; Judith ten Hof; Jan G. Nijhuis; Eduard J. H. Mulder; Harini Narayan; David J. Taylor; Gerard H. A. Visser
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1999
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 139 KB
- Volume
- 34
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0012-1630
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✦ Synopsis
Developmental aspects of behavioral organization were investigated in 29 healthy fetuses from 24-weeks gestation onwards: (a) short-term association between body (GM) and eye (EM) movements; (b) linkage of pairs of the three state variables [fetal heart rate pattern (FHRP), GM, and EM]; and (c) sequence of change of state variables during transitions. Linkage and sequence were also studied in complicated pregnancies. Short-term association between GM and EM was well established after 28 weeks. Linkage of state variables improved considerably after 32-34 weeks. FHRP was the first variable to change during synchronized transitions from 1F to 2F between 28-39 weeks, and the last variable during 2F to 1F transitions between 32-39 weeks. Although clear developmental patterns could be recognized, the interfetal variability was such that identification of the abnormal fetus is still difficult. Only transitions were significantly different in growth-restricted fetuses, as they showed no specific sequence of change. Assessing the temporal organization of fetal behavior seems, therefore, until now, not of great clinical value.