Panacea Journal of Medical Sciences

Labour Admission Test (LAT) as a Predictor of Intrapartum Fetal Distress

Full Text PDF

Article Type : Original Article

Author Details: Vijay Nikita, Kumare Bhavna

Volume : 6

Issue : 1

Online ISSN : 2348-7682

Print ISSN : 2249-8176

Article First Page : 26

Article End Page : 30

Abstract

Labour is the most crucial period for the foetus to see whether it can sustain hypoxia due to stress of uterine contraction. Fetal surveillance during labour is a demanding and arduous task. However, the wellbeing of the foetus in labour is one of the cardinal concerns in obstetric care. The present study was carried out to determine the effectiveness of labour admission test in case of detecting fetal hypoxia in labour and to correlate the findings of the test with perinatal outcome irrespective of their antenatal risk status. A prospective observational study was undertaken in 100 pregnant women with 37 completed weeks of pregnancy in early stage of labour with cephalic presentation. Data generated was analysed statistically by nonparametric Chi-square test with SPSS package version10. Statistical significance was calculated between reactive and nonreactive group with p-value of < 0.05. The results of labour admission test were reactive in 77%, equivocal in 20% and ominous in 3%. Women with reactive LAT were observed low risk of developing intrapartum fetal distress (5.2%) as compared to 40% of equivocal and 66.7% of ominous group. The incidence of moderate to thick meconium stained liquor was significantly high in ominous (33.3%) and equivocal group (25%) as compared to reactive group (3.9%). The admission in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) was significantly high in ominous test group (66.7%) as compared to those with equivocal (15%) and reactive (1.3%) test groups. Neonatal mortality was also observed in one (33.3%) baby from ominous test group. Operative delivery for fetal distress was observed in 3.9% of reactive group, in 40% of equivocal group and in 66.7% of ominous group. The labour admission test is a simple, suitable and economical viable test for the detection of intrapartum fetal distress in case of next few hours of labour in low resource countries where pregnant women presents first time labour or where the facilities of scalp pH is not available or the procedure is not done in labour wards.

Keywords: Cardiograph, Fetal distress, Foetal hypoxia, Labour admission test, Perinatal outcome

Doi No:-10.18231