Pregnancy Outcome in Amniotic Fluid Index Less than 5 in Term Low-Risk Pregnancy

Abstract

Background: To know the adverse pregnancy outcome in term low-risk pregnancy with oligohydramnios (amniotic fluid index [AFI] <5). Materials and Methods: A case-control study on pregnancy outcome in 50 women with the ultrasound diagnosis of oligohydramnios after 37 completed weeks of gestation compared with 50 controls with no oligohydramnios matched with age and parity. Results: Increased chances of fetal heart rate decelerations, thick meconium, low Apgar score at 5 min, birth weight <2.5 kg, admission to neonatal intensive care unit seen in study group but not statistically significant. However increased the incidence of labor induction and increase in the cesarean section for fetal distress seen in the study group and was statistically significant ( P = 0.01). Conclusion: Determination of AFI is valuable for predicting fetal distress in labor requiring cesarean section used as an adjunct to other fetal surveillance methods. An AFI of <5 detected after 37 weeks of gestation is an indicator for poor pregnancy outcome.