Serum cortisol levels in maternal venous, umbilical arterial and umbilical venous blood at delivery in the cases of fetal distress.

We measured maternal venous (MV), umbilical arterial (UA) and umbilical venous (UV) cortisol levels in 180 term pregnancies to investigate the changes of these hormone levels in the cases of fetal distress and neonatal asphyxia. The cortisol levels in UA and UV blood in the fetal distress group were significantly higher than those in the non-fetal distress group among spontaneous vaginal delivery cases. There were significant positive correlations among the cortisol levels in MV and UA, MV and UV, and UA and UV blood, respectively. These data suggest that in the case of fetal distress or neonatal asphyxia, mother and fetus have responded independently to the stress of delivery, and that maternal cortisol might not strongly affect the fetal cortisol secretion.