[ozmidwifery] Delayed Cord Clamping reduces Anaemia article

[Helen and Graham]

http://www.orgyn.com/en/news/2006/Week_17/Day_1/Delaying_cord_clampi.asp?C=17447388334892708333   Delaying cord clamping reduces anemia Source: Pediatrics 2006; 117: e779-86 Investigating the effects of the timing of cord clamping on neonatal venous hematocrit. Delaying cord clamping may lower rates of anemia in newborns, results of a randomized controlled trial suggest. Although the umbilical cord is usually clamped immediately after birth, there is no evidence to support this approach, and it may even deprive the newborn of some benefits, say José Ceriani Cernadas (Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Argentina) and co-workers. To find out, they assessed the effects of clamping the umbilical cord within the first 15 seconds (group 1), 1 minute (group 2), and 3 minutes (group 3) of birth in a study of 276 neonates born at two obstetrical units in Argentina. The infants were delivered at term without complications. Delaying cord clamping increased the venous hematocrit value—the relative volume of blood occupied by red blood cells—in the babies at 6 hours of life within the physiologic range (53.5 percent, 57.0 percent, and 59.4 percent in groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively). Anemia, defined as a venous hematocrit value lower than 45 percent, was significantly less common in groups 2 and 3 than group 1.  Cernadas et al say delaying clamping should be implemented to increase neonatal iron storage at birth. Iron deficiency in early life has been linked to cognitive impairment, and anemia is one of the most serious childhood conditions, especially in the developing world. Posted: 24 April 2006