Diminished fetal reactivity with smoking

The fetal activity-acceleration determination (FAD), or nonstress test, has been demonstrated to be an effective method for the antepartum assessment of fetal status in high-risk pregnancies. A reactive or negative test has been equated with fetal well-being, while fetal compromise has been related to a nonreactive or positive FAD. The present investigation was designed to determine the effects of chronic cigarette smoking on fetal reactivity as measured by the FAD. Increased fetal reactivity might be expected from recent investigations of the acute effects of cigarette smoking and 350 nonsmoking pregnant women with high-risk pregnancies, nonreactive or positive FAD's were demonstrated to be significantly higher in the smoking group (chi 2=8.9950; p less than 0.005).