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PubMed1979

Assessment of fetal lung maturity: a comparison of the lecithin/sphingomyelin ratio and the tests of optical density at 400 and 650 nm.

Seventy-eight amniotic fluid samples were obtained by transabdominal amniocentesis and were analyzed for their L/S ratio and optical density at 400 and 650 nm. The L/S ratio was considered to be mature if the values were greater than 2.0. The optical density of the fluids decreased with prolonged refrigeration. With freshly centrifuged samples, the OD650 reading of greater than 0.15 gave the best correlation with the mature L/S ratio. There were 3.8% false positive results and 14.1% false negative results. The study confirms that the OD650 test on fresh amniotic fluid is a rapid and inexpensive way to determine fetal maturity. All samples with values of less than 0.15 must, however, also be tested for their L/S ratio since some of the infants with these values may also be mature.

Amniotic Fluid↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Paternal involvement after perinatal death.

This study describes paternal involvement after perinatal death in a large, mostly minority, lower socioeconomic status sample. Paternal presence at birth, holding the baby, and presence at a follow-up appointment were the indicators of paternal involvement. Perinatal death was defined as miscarriage, stillbirth, or neonatal death within 12 hours of birth. Data were collected from a retrospective chart review under the auspices of the Perinatal Mortality Counseling Program at Shands Hospital at the University of Florida, a tertiary care referral center in north central Florida. The sample included 722 cases of perinatal death between July 1978 and April 1991. The results indicated that many fathers experienced perinatal grief. More than half attended the birth, a quarter chose to hold their baby, and one fifth returned with the mother to follow-up appointments. Paternal-maternal cohabitation was the variable most predictive of the fathers' involvement after perinatal death. Race was predictive of the father being present at birth and at the follow-up visit, with white fathers more likely to be present than black fathers. Married fathers and those employed in a professional or manual labor occupation were more likely to be present at the birth than fathers who were unemployed, students, incarcerated, or in the military. Gestational age was predictive of the father holding the baby, with the likelihood increasing 1.04 times for each week of increase in gestational age. This study supports the need to include fathers in grief counseling, and the further investigation of the involvement of fathers when a perinatal death occurs.

Adult↗