Maternal perception of fetal movement type: the effect of gestational age and maternal factors

To assess maternal perception of fetal movement types and its association with maternal factors in normal pregnancies with good pregnancy outcome.

This study was conducted on 729 normotensive singleton pregnant women with good pregnancy outcome who had referred for prenatal visit. After completing a questionnaire, the participants were asked to count fetal movements for 1 h/3 times/day. They were also asked to identify the type of fetal movement: general body movement (GBM) (rolling and stretching/strong), isolated limb movement (ILM; simple flutter or kicks/weak), trunk movement (TM) (strong jab, startle/strong), or hiccup movement (HM) (high frequency and rapid/weak). All the participants were followed till delivery to exclude pregnant women with preterm birth and/or small for gestational age from the study.

90.8% of participants perceived GBM, which was independently associated with maternal unemployment (OR = 2.28, 95% CI = 1.18-4.4). 74.2% of participants perceived TM, which was associated with multiparity (OR = 1.69, 95% CI = 1.18-2.4). 86.3% perceived ILM, which was independently associated with maternal unemployment (OR = 2.67, 95% CI = 1.53-4.68), lower gestational age (OR = 2.17, 95% CI = 1.28-3.67), perception of fetal movements at night (OR = 2.05, 95% CI = 1.27-3.32), and multiparity (OR = 1.68, 95% CI = 1.04-2.72). 36.6% perceived HM, which was independently associated with higher gestational age (OR = 1.71, 95% CI = 1.2-2.44).

Most pregnant women could discriminate changes in fetal movement type that follow a general pattern through the third gestational trimester, however this can be affected by maternal employment, parity and time of perception.