Positive correlation between mature amniotic fluid optical density readings and the absence of neonatal hyaline membrane disease

Fetal pulmonary maturity is generally determined by analyzing amniotic fluid for surfactants. This task is accomplished by lipid extraction of the fluid and resolution, identification and quantitation of the isolated lipids with thin-layer chromatography. These methods are lengthy, cumbersome and often not available on demand. A quick, simple, reliable and economical test therefore would be highly desirable. We have been able to correlate an optical density (OD) reading of amniotic fluid at 650 nm ≥ 0.15 with the absence of hyaline membrane disease (HMD). For 428 fluids in which an OD reading of ≥ 0.15 was found and delivery occurred within 48 hours, HMD was present in only two infants. The accuracy of the test was 99.53%, with a false-positive rate of 0.47%. With the use of this simple and accurate test one can satisfy the requirement of an on-demand test to determine fetal pulmonary maturity.