Fetal monitoring: is it worth it?

Obstet Gynecol. 1975 Jan;45(1):96-100.

Abstract

The current trend to fewer births per family, a lower birth rate, and a national commitment to reduce mental retardation calls for evaluation of methods which will optimize perinatal outcome individually and in a collective sense. Based on the assumption that continuous fetal heart rate monitoring during labor can reduce perinatal mortality and morbidity by 50%, a cost analysis is constructed. The cost for total monitoring of 3000 deliveries per year is compared with the potential savings due to prevention of one-half of the mental retardation that would develop from the same group were they not monitored.

MeSH terms

  • California
  • Costs and Cost Analysis
  • Disabled Persons
  • Female
  • Fetal Death / diagnosis
  • Fetal Death / epidemiology
  • Fetal Heart / physiology*
  • Heart Rate*
  • Humans
  • Infant Mortality
  • Intellectual Disability / diagnosis
  • Intellectual Disability / epidemiology
  • Labor, Obstetric*
  • Monitoring, Physiologic* / instrumentation
  • Postnatal Care
  • Pregnancy
  • Prenatal Care
  • Prenatal Diagnosis