Maternal and fetal blood viscosity throughout normal pregnancy

Summary The changing values of whole blood viscosity and its major determinants, haematocrit, plasma fibrinogen, total serum protein, plasma viscosity and erythrocyte deformability, were followed throughout and after normal pregnancy in a serial study of 50 patients. In a cross-sectional study of the same parameters in cord blood samples from 170 fetuses at varying gestations, the haemorheological profile of fetal blood was defined. The significance of these haemorheological measurements in the changing haemodynamics of pregnancy and as a background for the study of pathological pregnancy is discussed.