Relationship between fetal heart rate and maternal blood pressure and diabetes mellitus, and fetal sex

Objective: To assess the association between aspects of maternal health (blood pressure and diabetic status) and fetal heart rate (FHR) during the third trimester, and compare FHR in male and female fetuses" or similar. Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study. The study population comprised 100 pregnant women in the third trimester. The study was conducted in Khartoum state between January and May 2012. Subjects were categorized according to blood pressure (hypertensive, hypotensive, prehypertensive and normotensive) and gestational diabetes status (diabetic vs. non-diabetic). All subjects underwent ultrasound imaging using a 3.5 MHz probe, according to the obstetric scanning protocol. Fetal heart activity was observed using the 4-chamber view and M mode was applied to measure the FHR. Data were collected on a clinical data sheet, designed to record relevant maternal clinical history (hypertension and diabetes mellitus). Results: Fetal heart rate was weakly correlated with gestational age in the final weeks of pregnancy (r = 0.35). Fetal heart rate was higher in subjects with hypertension than in normotensive subjects (p= 0.000). Maternal hypotension had no influence on FHR (p= 0.166). The FHR of male and female fetuses showed no significant difference (p= 0.456). Maternal diabetes did not appear to influence FHR (p= 0.166). Conclusion: FHRis strongly influenced by maternal hypertension. The FHR did not significantly differ between fetuses of diabetic women and non-diabetic women. There was no significant difference in the FHR between male and female Fetuses