Objective To evaluate the association between birthweight and maternal heart rate (MHR) or heart rate variability (HRV) under resting conditions at 20–24 gestational weeks and 34 weeks or later (34+ weeks). Methods Data were retrospectively reviewed from the Safe Passage Study, a prospective longitudinal cohort study of alcohol use in pregnancy and birth outcomes in Cape Town, South Africa, between August 2007 and January 2015. Using custom‐designed software, MHR and indicators of HRV were obtained from the recorded maternal electrocardiograms and compared with birthweight and z‐scores of birthweight adjusted for gestation and gender. Results Data from 5655 women were included. MHR increased from 84.6 bpm at 20–24 weeks to 88.3 bpm at 34+ weeks. Increasing MHR from 70–80 to 80–90 and 90–100 bpm at 20–24 weeks was associated with increasing birthweight from 2940 to 2998 and 3032 g, respectively (P<0.05). MHR and HRV contributed 29% to the variability associated with birthweight, whereas maternal body mass index at recruitment contributed 44%. Similar associations were observed for MHR at 34+ weeks. Conclusion The observed association of low maternal heart rate with birthweight might help to identify pregnancies at risk of poor fetal growth.

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Dehydration resulting from acute diarrhea is one of the leading causes of infant mortality in the developing world. Safe assessment of an infant's hydration level is essential to determine appropriate clinical intervention strategies. However, clinical hydration scales, which are the current gold standard for non-invasive hydration assessment, are often unreliable in lower resource settings. This study presents the development and testing of non-invasive, optical sensors for the objective assessment of dehydration based on the quantitative measurement of skin recoil time, capillary refill time and skin temperature. The results obtained have demonstrated the basic feasibility of using optical sensors for the objective assessment of dehydration. However, several challenges must be overcome before these sensors can be applied in a clinical setting.

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