A method for neurological evaluation within the first year of life: experience with full-term newborn infants with birth injury.
Ciba Found Symp, (1978)Abstract
In a prospective study undertaken at Port-Royal Maternity Hospital, Paris, 1785 deliveries were studied during a 15-month period. Signs of cerebral dysfunction were observed in 57 newborn infants--mild signs in 38 infants, moderate in 17, severe in 2. There was a high incidence of abnormal labour in 28 of these 57 infants (50\%) (dysfunctional labour patterns without obvious cephalopelvic disproportion, including false labour, prolonged active-phase dilatation, (prolonged descent, marked caput succedaneum). During the first year of life, 30 of the 57 infants were followed. In 14 of the 30 infants transitory abnormalities were observed. In five infants abnormalities persisted at the end of the first year. Eleven infants were normal throughout the first year. In another study the incidence of cerebral symptoms at birth was compared in full-term infants born in 1974 and those born in 1976. Thirteen infants with moderate and severe symptoms were observed out of 1578 deliveries during 1974 and five out of 1934 deliveries during 1976, the incidence of Caesarean section necessitated by acute fetal distress being the same in both groups. This decreasing percentage of complications appears to be linked with improving care, including more widespread use of fetal monitoring.