Fetal monitoring: is it worth it?

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.