Estetrol in monitoring fetal well-being

Estetrol （E4） has been suggested to be used as a sensitive indicator of fetal well-being. The determiantion of E4 in the urine of 48 pregnant women by Gas chromatograph is reported. 20 arine samples, 16 from normal pregnancies, 1 from mild, and 2 from moderate pregnancy hypertension and 1 from pregnancy anemia were examined, of which 6.8g% were found to have E4. 28 urine samples, 20 from normal pregnant women, 3 from mild, 1 from moderate, 3 from severe preeclampsia and 1 from anencephaly, did not show E4. They gave birth to 2 babies with multiple anormalies, 1 with anencephaly and 1 IUGR weighing 1150g.
The average body weight of the babies in the positive and negative groups were 3388±487g and 3015±553g respectively. This difference is statistically significant （P＜0.05）.