Original Article

Birth Associated Physical Traumas of the Newborn

  • Ali Bülbül
  • Füsun Okan
  • Asiye Nuhoğlu

Med Bull Haseki 2006;44(3):0-0

SummaryObjective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical characteristics of newborns with birth injuries and identify the risk factors for birth associated trauma. Material and Method: The medical records of 9987 live-born infants in our hospital between 2001 and 2004 were reviewed retrospectively regarding birth related traumas. Birth-related injuries was defined as, 1- soft tissue lesions (cephalohematoma, caput succedaneum, skin laceration), 2- nervous tissue damages (brachial plexus and facial nerve injuries) and 3- skeletal fractures (clavicular, femoral, humerus and others). All live-born infants with birth injuries were included to the study however, infants with perinatal asphyxia, meconium aspiration and neonatal seizures, which may be influenced by intrauterine factors, were excluded.Results: Birth related trauma was detected in 76 (0.7%) of all live births. Of 76 babies studied, 64 (84.2%) were term, and 12 (15.8%) were preterm infants. The gender, mean gestational age and mean birth weight of the infants were 40.8% female, 59.2% male; 39.2 ±3.1 weeks and 3310±746 g, respectively. Among the babies 79% were born with spontaneous vaginal delivery (5 with vacum assisted delivery) and 21% were born with cesarean section. The most common type of birth injury was soft tissue lesions (70.7%), whereas other lesions were nervous tissue damages (17.1%) and, skeletal fractures (12.2%). Risk factors for birth injury were found to be; large birth weight (26 babies), prematurity (12 babies), presentation anomalies (8 babies), and prolonged labour (6 babies). Of the infants, 33 (43%) had not any risk factors. Conclusion: Birth injuries are a significant cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality. Although they are frequently associated with traumatic delivery, birth injuries occur in some normal spontaneous deliveries in the absence of any risk factors. We suggest that infants who have a risk of traumatic delivery must be carefully monitored and closely followed up to choose the proper birth type by detecting the birth related risk factors to decrease the incidense of the birth related injuries.Key words: Newborn, birth trauma, risk factors