Clinical experience with the amniotic fluid lecithin/sphingomyelin ratio: II. The L/S ratio in “stressed pregnancies”

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Lecithin/sphingomyelin (L/S) ratios were measured in 81 amniotic fluid specimens obtained from 41 patients with “stressed pregnancies” as evidenced by chronically low (< 2 S.D.) 24 hour urinary estriol excretion. Fourteen of the patients studied also had a positive oxytocin challenge test. The results suggest that, on the average, fetal pulmonary maturity as evaluated by L/S ratios is not accelerated in “stressed pregnancies.”