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Lack of relationship between diurnal rhythms in fetal heart rate and maternal cortisol concentration

S Lunshof1, E J van Someren, G Kortes-van Hoffen

  • 1Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology
|August 15, 2000
PubMed

In 9 pregnancies complicated by intrauterine growth restriction, 24-hour fetal heart rate recordings were made before and after betamethasone treatment to study the influence of cortisol on diurnal fetal heart rate rhythms. Maternal and fetal rhythms were correlated and did not change after betamethasone administration. We conclude that diurnal fetal heart rate rhythms are synchronized by the mother through a mechanism other than adrenal control.

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