Objective: The objective of this study is to determine whether ambient light serves as a fetal stimulus to decrease the amount of time needed to complete a biophysical profile.
Study design: This is a randomized controlled trial of singleton gestations undergoing a biophysical profile. Patients were randomized to either ambient light or a darkened room. The primary outcome was the time needed to complete the biophysical profile. Secondary outcomes included total and individual component biophysical profile scores and scores less than 8. A subgroup analysis of different maternal body mass indices was also performed.
Results: 357 biophysical profile studies were analyzed. 182 studies were performed with ambient light and 175 were performed in a darkened room. There was no difference in the median time needed to complete the biophysical profile based on exposure to ambient light (6.1min in darkened room versus 6.6min with ambient light; P=0.73). No difference was found in total or individual component biophysical profile scores. Subgroup analysis by maternal body mass index did not demonstrate shorter study times with ambient light exposure in women who were normal weight, overweight or obese.
Conclusion: Ambient light exposure did not decrease the time needed to complete the biophysical profile. There was no evidence that ambient light altered fetal behavior observed during the biophysical profile.
Keywords: Ambient light; Biophysical profile; Fetal behavior; Fetal stimulus; Light stimulus.
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