A Longitudinal Analytical Study on Umbilical Cord Coiling Index as a Predictor of Pregnancy Outcome

Abstract

Background The umbilical cord coiling index (UCI) is usually measured sonographically during antenatal follow-up and can be used to determine the fetuses at risk of adverse outcomes. Methodology UCI measured antenatally and postnatally whose correlation is studied along with the association of abnormal UCI with the adverse outcomes in terms of gestational age, intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), intra-uterine death, birth weight, sex, neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission, the color of the liquor, Amniotic Fluid Index (AFI), Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, and Respiration (APGAR) score at one min and five mins and mode of delivery. All parameters are tested for significant differences among UCI and a p-value < 0.05 is considered significant. The correlation of UCI measured antenatally and postnatally is tested using the spearman correlation coefficient. Results A strong correlation is found between antenatal UCI and postnatal UCI with r s 0.9. The majority of the population had normo coiling. Hyper and hypo coiling are associated risks of emergency lower segment cesarean section (LSCS). Low birth weight is seen in 88.89% of hypo coiled patients with a p-value < 0.01. The coiling index among sex is found to be insignificant with a p-value of 0.81. Meconium-Stained Liquor (MSL) is seen in 78.5% of hyper coiled patients. IUGR is found to be associated with hypo coiling as seen in 59.2% of patients with significant p-value (< 0.01). Age, gestational age, and birth weight are found to be statistically significant between various coiling indexes with p-value < 0.05. Conclusion Antenatal UCI correlates with postnatal UCI and any abnormal index found can be used as a predictor of adverse perinatal outcomes and help obstetricians to monitor continuously and put the patients at risk on prophylactic measures.; Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. (Copyright © 2023, Subashini et al.)