Length and head circumference at birth : associations with birth outcome and morbidity in macrosomic Finnish infants
Year: 2014
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Keywords: birth weight, length and head circumference, macrosomia, adverse birth outcome Size at birth is important determinant of birth outcome and perinatal mortality and morbidity.Being too big at birth puts the newborn at increased risk of various health problems at or after birth.The aims of this study were to estimate the prevalence of large birth weight and adverse maternal and infant health conditions related to large birth weight and to determine the effects of newborn body size measured with birth length and head circumference on these health conditions in macrosomic (birth weight >4000g) newborn.Various birth outcomes for both newborn and mother were used.Data for this study was from the National Birth Register from 2008 to 2010 from Southwestern Finland.Only singleton, live births and term pregnancies were included to the analysis (n=10006) and fetal anomalies were excluded.Eighteen percent of the newborns had birth weight over 4000g and thus defined as macrosomic, 2.6% had birth weight above 4500g.Macrosomia was associated with prolonged labor, unplanned cesarean section, postpartum hemorrhage, perineal trauma, the use of medical pain relief, duration of hospital stay, shoulder dystocia, hypoglycemia, low Apgar score and treatment or monitoring at the hospital.The prevalence of prolonged labor, caesarean section, hospital stay, shoulder dystocia, hypoglycemia, low Apgar score at 1 minutes and being treated and monitored at the hospital increased as birth length increased.Increasing head circumference was associated with increasing prevalence of prolonged labor a t 2 nd stage, caesarean section, hospital stay of the mother and perinatal asphyxia.In conclusion birth length and head circumference were associated with many birth outcome variables in macrosomic infants, usually linked in literature often only with high birth weight.The result suggests length and head circumference would be valuable additional predictors with birth weight, when evaluating perinatal morbidity risk.
Author: Jenni Vaarno
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3097316084