The association Between Umbilical Coiling Index and Fetal Distress

Introduction: It is well know that fetal distress is one of the important causes of fetus perinatal morbidity and mortality. In this study, we sought to evaluate the association between umbilical coiling index and fetal distress.Material and method:This was a case- control study conducted on 90 term pregnant women. Study group had fetal distress (abnormal fetal heart rate, meconium staining, Apgar score less than 7 in fifth minute and PH of umbilical cord arterials < 7.2) and control group did not have above complications. After fetus birth, umbilical coiling index (UCI) was calculated and heparinated blood of umbilical cord arteries was sent to laboratory for checking acidity. Finally, data was analyzed using SPSS software, version 18 by t-test and Pearson correlation test.Results: The mean UCI was 0.23 ±0.13coils/cm and 0.30± 0.13coils/cm in study and control groups, respectively which had meaningful difference (p=0.017). However, there was a significant correlation (p=0.03) between UCI and bradycardia, but there was no significant association between UCI and meconium staining, tachycardia and acidity of umbilical cord arterials (P>0.05). Roc curve demonstrated that UCI had the ability to be used to predict fetal distress and the best point for predicting fetal distress was 0.23 coils/cm Conclusion:Fetal heart bradycardia had significant association with UCI and UCI could be used to predict fetal distress.