Association between umbilical cord coiling index and prenatal outcomes

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to measure the umbilical cord indices (UCIs) after birth and to determine its relationship with prenatal complications. Materials and Methods: The present analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on all the pregnant women admitted to Al-Zahra hospital of Rasht. After birth, the umbilical cord was measured in terms of the appearance, number of vascular coils, and umbilical cord length. In addition, the umbilical cord vascular coils index was calculated. Further, maternal and neonatal variables were evaluated. Results: The mean number of umbilical cord coils, umbilical cord length, and the umbilical cord coiling index for 397 umbilical cords were obtained as 16.02 ± 4.48, 51.6 ± 12.0 and 0.31 ± 0.05 cm, respectively. In evaluating the state of the coil, 9.8% were found as hypocoil while the remaining were either hypercoil (10.3%) or normocoil (79.85%). Furthermore, a significant difference was observed between the umbilical cord coiling index, as well as gestational hypertension and abnormal fetal heart rate (HR) (P < 0.05). In the final logistic regression model, the umbilical cord length was recognized as a predictor variable for neonatal complications. Moreover, in multiple analyses regarding the effects of umbilical cord coiling index on neonatal complications by controlling the interferences, variables such as maternal age and parity in addition to the coil length were considered as predictors of neonatal complications. Conclusions: Generally, the abnormal umbilical cord coiling index was associated with pregnancy blood pressure (BP) and abnormal fetus HR. Therefore, diagnosing antenatal umbilical cord coiling index can be helpful in recognition of embryos at risk through a faster treatment process.