Association between uterine contractions before elective caesarean section and transient tachypnoea of the newborn: a retrospective cohort study

OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the association between the presence of predelivery uterine contractions and transient tachypnoea of the newborn (TTN) in women undergoing an elective caesarean section. DESIGN: A retrospective cohort study. SETTING: National Hospital Organization Kofu National Hospital, which is a community hospital, between January 2011 and May 2019. PARTICIPANTS: The study included 464 women who underwent elective caesarean section. The exclusion criteria were missing data, twin pregnancy, neonatal asphyxia, general anaesthesia and elective caesarean section before term. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Patients were grouped according to the presence or absence of uterine contractions on a 40-min cardiotocogram (CTG) performed within 6 hours before caesarean delivery. We performed a multivariable logistic regression analysis to examine the association between predelivery uterine contractions and TTN. RESULTS: The incidence of TTN was 9.9% (46/464), and 38.4% (178/464) of patients had no uterine contraction. The absence of uterine contractions was significantly associated with an increased risk of TTN (adjusted OR 2.04; 95% CI 1.09 to 3.82) after controlling for gestational diabetes mellitus, small for gestational age, male sex and caesarean section at 37 weeks. CONCLUSIONS: Accurate risk stratification using a CTG could assist in the management of infants who are at risk of developing TTN.