Maternal psychological and physiologic correlates of fetal-newborn health status

Abstract

Data were obtained from 32 primigravid women in pregnancy and in labor. Anxiety in labor, measured by a self-report inventory, and plasma epinephrine were significantly correlated with the fetal heart rate pattern in active-phase labor (3 to 10 cm of cervical dilatation). The fetal heart rate pattern was significantly correlated with Apgar scores at 1 and 5 minutes. Conflict in the acceptance of pregnancy, measured in prenatal interviews, predicted anxiety and epinephrine levels in labor and the 5-minute Apgar score.