Correlation Of Prenatal Non-Stress Test with Perinatal Outcome in High-Risk Pregnancies

Background: High risk factors during pregnancy adversely affect the maternal andfoetal outcome increasing perinatal morbidity and mortality. Antepartum foetalsurveillance can detect foetal hypoxia and acidemia before it becomes irreversible.Non- stress test (NST) is simple and cost-effective method of antepartum foetalsurveillance. The objective of the study was to analyse the predictive value of NST inevaluating perinatal outcome in high-risk pregnancies.Materials and Method: Present study was carried out on 100 high-risk pregnantwomen with singleton pregnancy, of more than 34 weeks period of gestation.Allparticipants underwent prenatal non-stress testing (NST). Based on the results, thecases were categorized into two groups: reactive NST and non-reactive NST. Perinataloutcomes were then assessed and compared between the two groups.Results: The common risk factorsobserved in our study were gestational hypertension(19%), anaemia (17%), hypothyroidism (14%), pre-eclampsia (10%), oligohydramnios(10%).Around 66% of the participants had reactive prenatal NST while 34% cases hadnon-reactive NST. Around 41% of the infants were low birth weight in non-reactiveNST group while 13.6% in reactive group. Total 20.59% babies in non-reactive NSTgroup had low Apgar at 5 minutes requiring NICU admission while 6.06% babies inreactive NST group had low Apgar requiring admission.Conclusion: Present study reveals significant difference in perinatal outcomes in highrisk cases with reactive and non-reactive NST. NST can be used for identifying thefoetuses at risk of asphyxia and avoiding unnecessary delay in intervention. It can beused as single best screening in low resource centres to screen high risk antenatal cases.