An exploratory study of fetal behavior at 33 and 36 weeks gestational age in hypertensive women.

The relationship between maternal blood pressure (BP) and fetal behaviors as well as differential spontaneous and vibroacoustic elicited fetal behaviors were examined in hypertensive (n = 21) compared to normotensive (n = 22) women at 33 and 36 weeks gestational age (GA). Maternal BP was negatively related to GA at birth and birth weight. On average, fetuses of hypertensive women were born 2 weeks earlier (38 weeks GA) and 340 g lighter. Maternal systolic BP was negatively related to the number of spontaneous body movements observed on ultrasound scan over 20 min and the magnitude of the fetal heart rate (FHR) acceleration elicited by a vibroacoustic stimulus. At 36 weeks GA, vibroacoustic stimulation elicited differential responding with fetuses in the hypertensive compared to the normotensive group having fewer body movements, a lower magnitude of FHR acceleration, and a lack of cardiac-body movement coupled responses. These findings suggest a relationship between maternal BP and fetal behaviors and differential functional development of sensory-motor response systems which need to be characterized in the subgroups of hypertensive disorders observed during pregnancy. Copyright 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 41: 156-168, 2002. Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/dev.10062