BIRTH OUTCOMES BY DELIVERY MODE

A paper by Liston et al and an accompanying perspective by Pasupathy and Smith deal with the complexity of ascertaining the relative risks of different choices of mode of delivery for term infants. By interrogating a database of more than 140 thousand births Liston et al had statistical power to examine even quite rare outcomes. Respiratory distress syndrome and transient tachypnoea of the newborn were increased amongst infants delivered by caesarean section without labour. Minor (cephalhaematoma) and major (facial nerve palsy, Erb’s palsy, phrenic nerve palsy, Klumpke’s palsy, spinal cord trauma, traumatic intracranial haemorrhage or grade III or IV intraventricular haemorrhage) birth trauma were much less common with caesarean delivery.

See pages F174 and F176

LESSONS FROM CONTINUOUS EEG RECORDINGS IN INFANTS WITH NEONATAL ENCEPHALOPATHY

Murray et al performed continuous early …