Comparison of umbilical artery Doppler and non-stress test in assessment of fetal well-being in gestational diabetes mellitus: A prospective cohort study

Abstract

Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is one of the most common medical complications of pregnancy and is related to poor perinatal outcomes. Reduction of neonatal complications of GDM is feasible by assessment of fetal well-being. Both fetal Doppler and NST are used for the screening of high-risk pregnancies. Objective: We aimed to compare the non-stress test (NST) and umbilical artery (UA) Doppler assessments for evaluation of the adverse perinatal outcomes in GDM. Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study on 50 pregnant women with GDM in Jame Zanan Hospital, Tehran, Iran, from Oct 2014 to Sep 2015. A convenient sampling method was used for patient recruitment. Inclusion criteria were women with GDM, singleton pregnancies, and gestational age>32 weeks who had neither medical conditions nor fetal anomalies. Adverse perinatal outcomes were defined as Apgar scores at 1-min and 5- min 4000 gram (p=0.033). Sensitivity and specificity of the NST in predicting different poor outcomes were 76.9% and 97.3% respectively. Sensitivity and specificity of UA Doppler in predicting different poor outcomes were 30.8% and 94.6% respectively. Conclusion: NST is a better predictor of adverse perinatal outcomes in GDM patients.

Keywords

• Diabetes
• Gestational
• Umbilical arteries
• Ultrasonography