Does the distressed fetus always need the pediatrician's attendance?

ABSTRACT

There is still a debate to whether pediatricians should attend all cesarean deliveries. This issue is even more complicated in developing countries. Little published data exist regarding the differences in resuscitative needs of infants delivered by cesarean section for fetal distress versus those without this diagnosis. The Objective of this study was to describe the differences in resuscitative and immediate Postnatal intervention needs for neonates with and without fetal distress delivered by cesarean section. Another aim was to devise an evaluation tool to assess and compare levels of neonatal resuscitation. The delivery records of 9687 deliveries in El-Shatby Hospital, University of Alexandria were reviewed. Apgar scores and resuscitative needs were assigned to a newly devised scoring system. Resuscitation subscores and total resuscitation scores were compared using non-parametric methods. The results proved that fetal distress group [n= 104] had a significantly greater resuscitative needs mean scores and subscores [p < 0.001] than did the non-fetal distress group [n= 545]. Of the non-fetal distress group, 48.6% still received some active form of intervention