A Prospective Study of the Oxytocin Challenge Test and Newborn Neurobehavioral Outcome

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Abstract
Infants of high-risk mothers delivered over 1 yr were evaluated by clinical, biochemical and behavioral methods. Of 67 newborns whose mothers had oxytocin challenge tests (OCT), 54 were delivered after negative tests, and 13 after positive tests. Infants with positive OCT had poor state organization and reflexive performance compared with negative-OCT babies. These infants also showed evidence of intrauterine malnutrition, but did not have any greater asphyxiation than the negative OCT group. A positive OCT implies pathological placental respiratory insufficiency, which may frequently be superimposed on impairment in utero of the placenta''s nutritional function. The clinical manifestation of such dysfunction is the alteration in subtle neonatal neurobehavior.

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