ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Elective cesarean delivery has been postulated to improve the outcome of term fetuses in breech presentation. We retrospectively compared the short- and long-term outcomes of term infants who were delivered from a breech presentation at a single center. STUDY DESIGN: We reviewed 699 consecutive term breech presentations according to the intended mode of delivery at a single center between January 1993 and December 1999. The short-term outcome measures were perinatal death, neonatal death, or serious neonatal morbidity; the long-term outcome measures were developmental delay and spasticity. RESULTS: The rate of serious perinatal morbidity in the trial-of-labor and cesarean delivery groups was 2.3% and 0.5%, respectively (P =.12). There was no perinatal or neonatal death in either group. With a median follow-up period of 57 months (range, 13-100 months), the rate of developmental delay was 1.9% and 0.5%, respectively (P =.29). Spasticity was not noted in any of the children. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that planned vaginal delivery remains an option for selected term breech presentations.
Subject(s)
Breech Presentation , Delivery, Obstetric/methods , Pregnancy Outcome , Adult , Apgar Score , Cesarean Section , Developmental Disabilities/epidemiology , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Hydrogen-Ion Concentration , Infant Mortality , Infant, Newborn , Morbidity , Muscle Spasticity/epidemiology , Pregnancy , Retrospective Studies , Umbilical ArteriesABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: We studied the effect of the prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) and weight gain during pregnancy on the rate of puerperal complications after spontaneous vaginal delivery. METHODS: This is a prospective cohort study of 11,114 women delivered spontaneously between 36 and 43 week's gestation at a university hospital, between January 1996 and December 2000. Postpartum complications were analyzed according to prepregnancy BMI category (low < 19.8; normal 19.8-26; high 26.1-29; obese > 29) and weight gain during pregnancy. Weight gain was defined as low, normal or high according to the National Academy of Science recommendations for BMI. RESULTS: Overall, 7.3% women had complications. Anemia and readmission were significantly more common in lean women than in women with normal BMI (3.5% versus 2.6%; P = .021 and 1.0% versus 0.3%; P < .001, respectively). Obese women had significantly more infectious complications (especially urinary tract infection) than women with normal BMI (6.3% versus 3.8%; P = .005). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that obese women should be screened for puerperal urinary tract infection. Weight gain during pregnancy has no influence on puerperal complications.
