Effect of Early Versus Delayed Umbilical Cord Clamping On Neonatal Hemoglobin•
Farzana Nasir, Sonia Naqvi, Bushra Zulfiqar, Neelam Saba, Mukhtar Begum Noorani
Abstract
Objective
To Compare the effect of early cord clamping (ECC) versus delayed cord clamping (DCC) on hemoglobin level at 6-hours after delivery on term neonates.
Study design
A cross sectional study.
Place & Duration of study
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Sir Syed Hospital Karachi, from July 2021 to January 2022.
Methods
Booked pregnant women who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were assigned into two groups of 30 each by random sampling. In group A cord was clamped at or <15 seconds (ECC) and in group B at 60 seconds (DCC) after delivery. Neonatal haemoglobin was evaluated at 6-hours after birth. For statistical significance student t test was applied. A p-value of <0.05 was considered as significant.
Results
A total of 60 pregnant women were included, 30 in ECC group A and 30 in DCC group B. The women in both the groups were comparable in terms of their age, parity, gestational age and hemoglobin levels. The mean age of group A women was 25.9+4.9 years and group B women 28.4+4.7 years. The neonatal haemoglobin was compared in two groups and the statistical difference was found significant (p=<0.001) in favour of group B.
Conclusion
Delayed cord clamping at birth increases the neonatal hemoglobin within a physiologic range and this intervention seems to increase the iron stores and reduce the rate of neonatal anemia.
Key words
Early cord clamping, Delayed cord clamping, Neonatal hemoglobin, Neonatal anemia.