The effects of scopolamine and ancillary analgesics upon the fetal heart rate recording.

Sixty-two fetal heart rate/uterine contraction recordings were examined prior to and following the administration of analgesia. Two groups, identified according to the receipt or absence of scopolamine, were evaluated concerning modification of baseline variability, beat-to-beat variability and fetal heart rate deceleration patterns. Scopolamine was found to be capable of eliciting fetal tachycardia, decreased beat-to-beat and baseline variability and decreased fetal heart rate decelerations. The mean one-minute Apgar scores for the two groups did not differ from each other nor from that of a control group that had not received any analgesia during labor.