Strengths
Currently there is a limited number of prospective studies examining the
relation between umbilical cord arterial pH and labour outcome in a
cohort of women with term pregnancy and prelabour maternal-foetal
Dopplers, cCTG STV, and Dawes-Redman criteria. The strengths of this
study are the extensive evaluation of various maternal and labour
characteristics, maternal-foetal Doppler velocimetry and FHR parameters
to predict birth outcomes and the demonstration of the correlation
between cCTG STV and umbilical cord arterial pH. Another strength is the
ability to blind clinicians, midwives, and researchers to the results of
the Doppler indices and the cCTG, thus the findings of the Doppler and
cCTG assessment did not influence the management of labour.