A study has shown that over the last 20 years there has been a sharp decline in infant deaths during delivery for pregnancies which went to term. The paper was published in JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association) last week.
A study has shown that over the last 20 years there has been a sharp decline in infant deaths during delivery for pregnancies which went to term. The paper was published in JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association) last week.
The pattern of the decline suggests that this was primarily due to a reduced number of severely anoxic infants rather than improved neonatal resuscitation.
Dr Dharmintra Pasupathy of the University's Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology and colleagues used data from more than 1 million births between 1988- 2007 in Scotland. They were able to determine the trends and factors associated with delivery-related perinatal deaths (deaths following the onset of labour or in the first 28 days of life) amongst non-multiple births at term with cephalic (head) presentation. Perinatal deaths due to pre-existing complications and stillbirths before the onset of labour were excluded from the analysis.
The data showed a 40% decrease in delivery- related perinatal deaths in Scotland during this period.
This trend was attributed to the decline in deaths relating to infants lacking oxygen during delivery, known as intrapartum anoxia. There was a 48% decline in deaths caused by intrapartum anoxia. Deaths attributed to other causes remained relatively unchanged during the same period.
The authors wrote: "The pattern of the decline suggests that this was primarily due to a reduced number of severely anoxic infants rather than improved neonatal resuscitation."
The research was funded by the Medical Research Council and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (Florence & William-Blair Bell Memorial Fellowship Fund) through a research training fellowship awarded to Dr Dharmintra Pasupathy, working under the supervision of Professor Gordon Smith.
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