Effect of excessive umbilical cord torsion on fetal and neonatal outcomes / 中国新生儿科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To study the effect of excessive torsion of the umbilical cord on fetal or neonatal outcomes.Methods:The observation group was selected from the puerperae who delivered in Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital from July 2016 to June 2020 with excessive torsion of the umbilical cord. In the same period, the puerperae without excessive torsion of the umbilical cord were selected as the control group with a ratio of 1∶1. The general condition, mode of delivery, perinatal outcomes, and the effect of different umbilical coiling index (UCI) [twisted umbilical cord weeks/umbilical cord length (cm)] on fetal and neonatal outcomes were retrospectively analyzed between two groups.Results:Compared with the control group, the observation group (1 780 cases) had smaller neonatal gestational age [(37.9±3.2) weeks vs. (38.4±2.9) weeks], birth weight [(3 007±726) g vs. (3 354±616) g] and length [(48.5±4.3) cm vs. (49.6±4.1) cm], but higher incidence of fetal distress [34.9% (622/1 780) vs. 12.9% (230/1 780)], neonatal asphyxia [1.5% (26/1 780) vs. 0.7% (13/1 780)], and cord blood pH<7.20 [4.2% (75/1 780) vs. 2.8% (49/1 780)], the difference was statistically significant ( P<0.05). The UCI≥0.73 group had lower neonatal gestational age, birth weight and length, but higher incidence of cord blood pH<7.20 and neonatal asphyxia than the UCI<0.73 group, with statistically significant differences ( P<0.05). Conclusions:Excessive torsion of the umbilical cord increases the incidence of fetal hypoxia and neonatal asphyxia and has a significant effect on neonatal gestational age, birth weight and length. The higher the UCI, the greater the impact on fetus and neonate.