title: The premature infant: anesthesia for cesarean delivery.
abstract: The influence of anesthetic technique (general [GA] versus epidural [EPI]) on neonatal outcome was assessed for singleton infants of gestational age 32 wk or less, delivered by cesarean section. Neonates were identified from a prospectively collected perinatal database from 1986 to 1991. The independent effect of anesthetic technique on low 1-min Apgar scores after controlling for other risk factors was assessed by ordinal logistic regression. Among the 509 infants studied, 30% had Apgar scores of 0 to 3 at 1 min and 5.9% at 5 min. Among infants delivered with GA, 46.4% had low 1-min and 10.1% had low 5-min Apgar scores as compared to 22.0% and 3.8% for EPI. GA as compared to EPI was associated with higher risk of low (0-3) 1-min score after controlling for confounding factors (relative odds = 2.92, [1.99, 4.27 95% confidence intervals]). Other factors significantly related to low 1-min Apgar scores included malpresentation, maternal diabetes, primiparity, low gestational age, and associated neonatal outcomes (presence of respiratory distress syndrome and intraventricular hemorrhage). When there is a choice to be made in cesarean delivery of the premature infant, EPI is associated with higher 1- and 5-min Apgar scores compared to GA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Rolbin
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Levinton
authors.forename: E N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Farine
mesh_terms: D000767:Anesthesia, Epidural; D000768:Anesthesia, General; D000773:Anesthesia, Obstetrical; D001034:Apgar Score; D002585:Cesarean Section; D017558:Elective Surgical Procedures; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D011247:Pregnancy; D011446:Prospective Studies