Perinatal Outcome in Women Complaining Reduced Fetal Movements

Abstract

Background: Reduced fetal movements is a very common complain in late pregnancy, and many women come to hospital when they feel the baby not moving like before. Sometimes this change is harmless, but sometimes it means placenta not working good and baby getting stress, so outcomes like low Apgar score, low birth weight and need of neonatal intensive care unit can happen. Objective: To determine the frequency of perinatal outcomes in women with reduced fetal movements at Ayub Teaching Hospital Abbottabad. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Duration and Place of Study: Study was done from September 2024 to March 2025 in Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad. Methodology: There was 107 pregnant women, age 18–40 years, single pregnancy, more than 28 weeks, who came with reduced fetal movements. Reduced fetal movements mean less than 10 movements in 2 hours on two different days. All women were followed till delivery. Babies was checked for low Apgar score at 5 minutes, low birth weight, and need for neonatal intensive care unit admission. Chi square test and Fisher exact test was used for checking association, and p ≤ 0.05 was taken important. Results: Mean age was 28.18 ± 6.51 years and mean gestational age was 33.72 ± 3.86 weeks. Mean parity was 2.87 ± 1.05 and mean body mass index was 28.65 ± 1.69. Most women were from rural area (59.8%) and from low socioeconomic group (54.2%). Low Apgar score was seen in 20 babies (18.70%). Low birth weight happened in 15 babies (14.00%). Neonatal intensive care unit admission was needed for 18 babies (16.80%). Conclusion: Women who come with reduced fetal movements had more chances of low Apgar score, low birth weight and need of neonatal intensive care unit.