Are increased fetal movements always reassuring?

Abstract

Many studies have reported on the association of reduced fetal movements and stillbirth, but little is known about excessive fetal movements and adverse pregnancy outcome. First described in 1977, sudden excessive fetal movement was noted to reflect acute fetal distress and subsequent fetal demise. Subsequently, little was reported regarding this phenomenon until 2012. However, emerging data suggest that 10–30% of the women that subsequently suffer a stillbirth describe a single episode of excessive fetal movement prior to fetal demise. These episodes are poorly understood but may reflect fetal seizure activity secondary to fetal asphyxia, cord entanglement or an adverse intrauterine environment. At present, the challenge in managing women with excessive fetal movements is a timely assessment of the fetus to identify those women at risk of adverse fetal outcomes who may benefit from intervention.

Keywords:

• Asphyxia
• cord entanglement
• fetal seizures
• hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy
• increased fetal movement
• stillbirth

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

CLW is supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia Fellowship [#1142380].