Determinants of Fetal Inflammatory Exposure at Term

The hypothesis of this study is that maternal and fetal biologic variation in the balance between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory mediators can be measured by currently available techniques. In addition, the investigators hypothesize that a pro-inflammatory maternal phenotype increases the risk of fetal exposure to intrauterine hyperthemia and inflammatory cytokines; and that intrapartum events, especially known risk factors for fever at term such as epidural analgesia and prolonged rupture of membranes, may interact with underlying maternal factors to increase fetal exposure to inflammatory cytokines. This experiment aims to establish the first large-scale cohort to evaluate biomarkers for maternal and fetal inflammation in term pregnancy and to elucidate the relative antepartum and intrapartum contributions to fetal inflammation.