Monitoring fetal heart rate (FHR) variability plays a fundamental role in fetal state assessment. Reliable FHR signal can be obtained from an invasive direct fetal electrocardiogram (FECG), but this is limited to labour. Alternative abdominal (indirect) FECG signals can be recorded during pregnancy and labour. Quality, however, is much lower and the maternal heart and uterine contractions provide sources of interference. Here, we present ten twenty-minute pregnancy signals and 12 five-minute labour signals. Abdominal FECG and reference direct FECG were recorded simultaneously during labour. Reference pregnancy signal data came from an automated detector and were corrected by clinical experts. The resulting dataset exhibits a large variety of interferences and clinically significant FHR patterns. We thus provide the scientific community with access to bioelectrical fetal heart activity signals that may enable the development of new methods for FECG signals analysis, and may ultimately advance the use and accuracy of abdominal electrocardiography methods.

Łukasiewicz Research Network Institute of Medical Technology and Equipment 118 Roosevelt Str 41 800 Zabrze Poland

Silesian University of Technology Department of Cybernetics Nanotechnology and Data Processing 16 Akademicka Str 44 100 Gliwice Poland

VSB Technical University of Ostrava Department of Cybernetics and Biomedical Engineering Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science 17 Listopadu 2172 15 Str 70800 Ostrava Czech Republic

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doi: 10.1007/s11517-006-0054-0 PubMed

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