THE EFFECT OF FORCEPS DELIVERY ON COGNITIVE-DEVELOPMENT

OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the influence of forceps delivery on cognitive development of preschool children. STUDY DESIGN: A cohort of 3413 chi ldren who were born at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Oakland , California, were selected at age 5 for intelligence quotient testing with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and the Raven Coloured Progr essive Matrices. Data were analyzed by means of the Student t test to compare mean intelligence quotient scores of intervention modes of del ivery with spontaneous delivery. RESULTS: No significant difference in intelligence quotient was seen in 1192 children delivered by forceps (1 14 midforceps) compared with 1499 who were delivered spontaneously. CONCLUSION: The association of forceps delivery with adverse cognitiv e development cannot be supported.