Effects of Monitoring High‐Risk Pregnancies and Intrapartum FHR Monitoring on Perinates

A protocol of chronic antepartum surveillance was initiated at the University of Illinois hospitals in 1973 to assess the impact on perinatal mortality. At the same time, a policy of unselected fetal heart rate (FHR) monitoring was initiated to judge the effect on the intrapartum stillbirth rate. The impact of both programs played a significant role in the decline of perinatal mortality rates for infants weighing more than 1 500 g, from 21.1/1 000 births in 1970--1971 to 14.4/1 000 births in the monitored years 1973 and 1974 (p less than 0.02).