Year: 2019
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Vaginal delivery (VD) involves physical, biochemical, and microbe-related processes that interact synergistically to facilitate colonization of the newborn with beneficial microbes and prime healthy immune and stress responses. Cesarean delivery (CD or C-section) bypasses these critical changes, which can affect the child's long-term health concerning immunocompetency and the wide-ranging role of human microbial symbionts. Interventions that compensate for such bypassed changes during CD have the potential to minimize the long-term risk factors associated with this delivery mode. This literature review relates details of the evolution of human reproduction to an analysis of current challenges in reproductive medicine. I discuss factors that put a mother at higher risk for C-sections and synthesize emerging insight into components of the VD processes that work together to prepare the neonate for life outside the womb. This insight can also provide an educational tool to assist expecting and new parents in their decision concerning birth method. While CD is a powerful medical tool, expecting parents need to understand the potential long-term effects of CD and how one could minimize such effects when a CD is necessary.
Author: Heather M Carey
Language: English
Subfield: Obstetrics and Gynecology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2995026921