We study the growth of the quantityfor rational functions R of degree n, which are bounded and univalent in the unit disk, and prove that this quantity may grow as n γ , γ > 0, when n → ∞. Some applications of this result to problems of regularity of boundaries of Nevanlinna domains are considered. We also discuss a related result by Dolzhenko which applies to general (non-univalent) rational functions.2000 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary 41A17; Secondary: 30E10, 30C45. Key words and phrases. Univalent rational functions, Bernstein-type inequality, bounded univalent functions, integral means spectrum.