EARLY REASSURANCE OR FALSE SAFETY? THE FETAL HOME DOPPLER USE IN ACTIVE MONITORING IN THE FIRST TRIMESTER OF...

The growing use of home monitoring devices during pregnancy has raised concerns about their reliability and psychological impact. From an endocrine perspective, early modulation of maternal stress through the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis may influence fetal neuroendocrine programming. Identifying safe, reassuring tools that stabilize maternal emotional state in early gestation may support healthier endocrine adaptation for both mother and fetus.

To evaluate the feasibility and psychological effects of handheld Doppler use for fetal cardiac monitoring in early pregnancy and to explore correlations between maternal-fetal cardiac coupling and maternal anxiety.

Prospective, observational, single-center study conducted between January 2019 and December 2023 at Polizu Clinical Hospital, Bucharest.

One hundred women ≤14 weeks' gestation completed questionnaires evaluating handheld Doppler and pulse oximeter use. 54 received the DASS-21 anxiety subscale online; 26 provided valid responses. Comparative and correlational analyses were performed using IBM SPSS v29.

Fetal heart rate was detected in 67% of cases, with higher detection at increasing gestational ages. Women who detected the heartbeat had higher gestational age (10.4 ± 1.8 vs. 8.6 ± 1.9 weeks, p < 0.01). Anxiety scores inversely correlated with gestational age (p = 0.019). Most participants (68%) found the Doppler reassuring.

Handheld Doppler monitoring during early pregnancy is feasible and provides emotional reassurance, potentially stabilizing maternal stress responses and supporting maternal-fetal endocrine adaptation.