While a loss of fetus-cushioning amniotic fluid late in pregnancy is thought to be an ominous sign, a new study suggests that it might not always necessitate an immediate delivery.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters Health), February 7, 2003

Babies whose deliveries were induced near term due to low amniotic fluid -- a condition known as oligohydramnios -- did not appear to fare worse than other newborns, researchers reported here Friday at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting.

It may be possible to leave these pregnancies to progress without intervention, according to Dr. Karin Blakemore, of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

"It may be a normal process of pregnancy, with less fluid as you get more baby," she said, and it is not necessarily a danger sign.

"By and large," she said, "these are healthy babies."

If fluid falls below a certain level, Blakemore said, "we will deliver, but not because this is necessarily abnormal, but because there might be an increase in cord accidents in an otherwise healthy baby."

The series of patients included in the analysis were all beyond 26 weeks gestation, and had low amniotic fluid levels within seven days of delivery. In the study of 262 women, half had oligohydramnios and half did not.

Patients with low amniotic fluid were delivered sooner, but they were less likely to have a Cesarean delivery. Those babies were no more likely to have health problems or to have an abnormal size.

Obstetricians used to "let women go a little longer than we do now," Blakemore said. Testing allowed doctors to tell if the baby was faring well, but adding measures of fluid volume may have introduced unnecessary alarms to a normal process of diminishing volume, Blakemore concluded.