Safer birth deliveries during daytime
Source: Agencies |
June 15, 2010, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
PICKING the time of day to give birth may not be a choice many women can make but it could influence her chances of a smooth delivery, according to a Dutch research.
A study of more than 700,000 births at Dutch hospitals between 2000 and 2006 found that the risks of newborn death and admission to the neonatal intensive care unit were higher with nighttime than daytime deliveries.
The researchers said the findings are in line with trends in other studies not only in obstetrics, but in hospital intensive care units as well.
Overall, the study found infants at smaller community hospitals who were born in the evening (between 6pm and midnight) or overnight into early morning (between midnight and 8am) were 32 to 47 percent more likely to die than those born during the day.
Larger medical centers that would see more high-risk pregnancies - so-called tertiary centers - did not have as much of a difference between night and day. At these hospitals, only overnight births - as opposed to evening births - were linked to an increased risk of newborn death.
The findings were similar when the researchers looked at the risk of all adverse birth outcomes together.
But they stressed that in developed countries serious complications are rare no matter what time of day or night a woman delivers. "It is very important indeed to realize that risks are generally low and that the level of care in these kinds of Western countries is high," researcher Eric Steegers of Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam told Reuters Health.
Of the nearly 656,000 singleton births at community hospitals, between 0.05 and 0.09 percent of infants died during or soon after birth. Rates were higher among infants born at tertiary hospitals, but were still less than 1 percent.
Steegers said it is possible the higher risks reflect the fact that fewer senior staff members - including obstetricians, neonatologists and anesthesiologists - are available during night shifts.
A study of more than 700,000 births at Dutch hospitals between 2000 and 2006 found that the risks of newborn death and admission to the neonatal intensive care unit were higher with nighttime than daytime deliveries.
The researchers said the findings are in line with trends in other studies not only in obstetrics, but in hospital intensive care units as well.
Overall, the study found infants at smaller community hospitals who were born in the evening (between 6pm and midnight) or overnight into early morning (between midnight and 8am) were 32 to 47 percent more likely to die than those born during the day.
Larger medical centers that would see more high-risk pregnancies - so-called tertiary centers - did not have as much of a difference between night and day. At these hospitals, only overnight births - as opposed to evening births - were linked to an increased risk of newborn death.
The findings were similar when the researchers looked at the risk of all adverse birth outcomes together.
But they stressed that in developed countries serious complications are rare no matter what time of day or night a woman delivers. "It is very important indeed to realize that risks are generally low and that the level of care in these kinds of Western countries is high," researcher Eric Steegers of Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam told Reuters Health.
Of the nearly 656,000 singleton births at community hospitals, between 0.05 and 0.09 percent of infants died during or soon after birth. Rates were higher among infants born at tertiary hospitals, but were still less than 1 percent.
Steegers said it is possible the higher risks reflect the fact that fewer senior staff members - including obstetricians, neonatologists and anesthesiologists - are available during night shifts.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
