ABSTRACT
Amniotic fluid fluorescence polarization was determined in 105 pregnant diabetic women who delivered between 31 and 41 weeks gestation within 48 hours of an amniocentesis. Seventy-seven of these 105 women had lecithin/sphingomyelin (L/S) ratio and phosphatidylglycerol (PG) determinations. Seven (6.6%) of the 105 neonates suffered from hyaline membrane disease (HMD). Fluorescence polarization at any cutoff value between 0.310 and 0.330 excluded reasonably well the possibility of HMD (false mature prediction rate, 2.7-3.4%). At these cutoff values, there was no difference in sensitivity and false mature prediction rate between fluorescence polarization and L/S ratio. However, PG determination was the most sensitive method and carried no false mature predictions.
