Monitoring of normal pregnancies by daily fetal movement registration or hormone assessment. A random allocation study

A random allocation study was performed to compare the clinical value of daily fetal movement counting with that of hormone assessment (oestriol and hPL) in the monitoring of apparently normal pregnancies for fetal well-being. Patients with known risk factors and those in whom complications occurred during the study were excluded. In the group counting fetal movements, 577 women recorded 35 189 daily counts, for a mean of 70 days each. The group evaluated with hormone assessments had an average of five determinations of serum total oestriol and human placental lactogen. Patient compliances were 86·8 and 99·5 per cent, respectively. Women having hormone assessments were seen more often as outpatients but the frequencies of hospital admission were identical. Other aspects of management did not differ. Women making fetal movement counts more frequently designated their monitoring procedure as troublesome or expressed insecurity. The number of patients studied was inadequate to assess the methods for ...