Antepartum nonstress test and the postmature pregnancy.

A review of 4320 consecutive term deliveries identified 258 women (6%) delivered at a gestational age of 42 weeks or longer. The group accounted for 30% of all cesarean sections for fetal distress, 30% of all infants with a low five-minute Apgar score, 40% of neonatal intensive care admissions, 60% of neonatal deaths, and 30% of all stillbirths. Nonstress tests were performed on 228 women with a postmature pregnancy. Results were defined as normal (score 7 to 10) in 83.4%, inconclusive (score 5 to 6) in 12.2%, and abnormal (score 1 to 4) in 4.4% of these cases. Monitored patients did significantly better than patients in the nonmonitored group, and so did those with normal nonstress test scores when compared with the abnormal scores. Whereas perinatal mortality in the monitored group was similar to that in the nonpostmature population, the perinatal morbidity was significantly higher.