Why the study?
Does maternal smoking acutely alter fetal heart beat intervals and variability in pregnant women in their last trimester?
Does maternal smoking acutely alter fetal heart beat intervals and variability in pregnant women in their last trimester?
Maternal smoking causes a distinct but transient decrease in fetal heart beat intervals and short-term variability, an effect that appears to be modified by the mother's chronic smoking habits.
Maternal smoking may transiently alter fetal HR parameters in late pregnancy; hypothesis-generating and leaves open clinical relevance pending prospective studies.
The purpose of this study was to analyse the acute effects of maternal cigarette smoking on the fetal heart beat intervals and their variability during the last trimester of a normal gestation. The fetal heart beat intervals were monitored continuously by abdominal electrocardiography for 60 min before and 60 min after smoking in 10 pregnant women. The mean intervals, their long-term variability (SD) and short-term variability (standard deviation of interval differences (SDID], calculated for 30-sec periods, showed a steady state before smoking. During the control period, the mean beat interval was negatively correlated with daily cigarette consumption and the short-term variability was positively correlated with the maternal plasma nicotine level. After smoking, the mean beat interval and the short-term variability decreased transiently, the values of both these parameters being positively correlated with the maternal nicotine values before smoking. The acute response of fetal heart beat intervals and their variability to one cigarette is distinct but transient, and the results suggest that the effects are modified by the chronic smoking habits of the women.
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Eriksen et al. (1984) studied this question.
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