The Investigation of Rate of Birth Asphyxia and its Relationship with Delivery Mode at Shahid Beheshti Hospital of Isfahan during 2013, 2014, and 2015

BACKGROUND: Birth asphyxia is considered as one of the biggest challenges faced by perinatal care experts. According to the WHO, in 2005, one-fourth of infant mortality cases occurred due to birth asphyxia. METHODS: This study is a retrospective study done on the newborn population with gestational ages of 36 weeks or higher during the years 2013, 2014, and 2015 to find the relationship between the number of birth asphyxia cases and the years. As a secondary objective, the relationship between the mode of delivery and the cases of birth asphyxia were investigated using logistic regression test. The inclusion criteria consisted of three cases, namely, gestational age of 36 weeks or higher, 5 min Apgar of <5, and umbilical cord pH of <7.1. The exclusion criteria involved hydrops fetalis, cyanotic heart disease, chromosomal abnormality, and congenital infections. RESULTS: From the two independent variables of the study, only the variable “year” showed a significant difference between the years 2013 and 2015 (P < 0.01). The delivery mode did not have any statistically significant influence on the newborns’ affliction with birth asphyxia (P = 0.993). CONCLUSIONS: According to the results, there is a significant difference between the rate of birth asphyxia in Iran and its global rate in 2015, and regarding its multiple growth from 2013 to 2015, conducting a more comprehensive and extensive research on birth asphyxia risk factors at a delivery time seems justified and inevitable.