| Series |
ECU School of Nursing thesis
ECU School of Nursing thesis. UNAUTHORIZED
|
| Summary |
The primary purpose of the study was to determine if it is possible to discriminate between women who experience preterm delivery and those who experience term delivery on the bases of maternal hematocrit as measured at specific points in pregnancy. The secondary purpose of the study was to determine if there is a difference in the hematocrit levels between women who experience selected delivery outcomes and those who do not experience those outcomes. A retrospective chart review was performed on 308 term deliveries and 304 preterm deliveries selected from deliveries occurring at a tertiary level referral center in the Southeastern United States from January 1987 through December 1988. Data collection included maternal variables related to hematocrit levels during pregnancy, demographic characteristics and risk factors associated with increased risk for preterm delivery. Data were also collected on infant variables believed to be affected by preterm delivery. Multivariate analyses of variance and univariate F tests showed that women experiencing preterm delivery have significantly lower hematocrit levels at delivery than women experiencing term delivery. When the mean hematocrits of the two groups were compared at each trimester of pregnancy and at delivery using separate variance t-tests significantly lower mean hematocrit levels were found in women delivering preterm in the second and third trimesters and at delivery. A stepwise discriminant function analysis clearly showed that women experiencing preterm delivery can be discriminated from women experiencing term delivery on the basis of hematocrit levels while controlling for maternal age, race and selected factors of pregnancy during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy and at delivery. Univariate analyses--t-tests found no significant differences between women delivering small for gestational age infants versus women delivering appropriate or large for gestational age infants based on compared hematocrit levels in the first, second and third trimesters and at delivery. One way analyses of variance with Scheffe comparisons found women who delivered infants with apgars < seven to have significantly lower hematocrits in the second trimester when compared to women delivering infants with apgars > eight and women delivering infants with apgars of zero to four and five to seven to have significantly lower hematocrits at delivery when each groups was compared to women delivering infants with apgars of > eight. The results of this study clearly show that maternal hematocrits during pregnancy and at delivery can be used to discriminate women experiencing preterm delivery from women experiencing term delivery. Further analyses are needed to determine which hematocrit levels provide the best ability to discriminate between these two groups and how these hematocrit values compare to the hematocrit values currently accepted as normal for pregnancy. |
| General note | Submitted to the faculty of the School of Nursing. |
| General note | Advisor: Dorothy L. Merrow |
| Dissertation note | M.S. East Carolina University 1989 |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 56-58). |
| Genre/form | Academic theses. |
| Genre/form | Academic theses. |
| Genre/form | Thèses et écrits académiques. |
