Differences in umbilical cord serum lipid levels with mode of delivery

Objective To investigate whether umbilical cord serum lipid levels differ w ith mode of delivery. Design Retrospective observation study. Population Two hundred and ninety mothers aged 29.1 years (SD 4.7) who had vaginal delivery, and 44 mothers aged 30.4 years (SD 4.7) who had elective caesarean section were enrolled. Main outcome measures Maternal and umbilical cord blood were obtained immed iately after delivery. Serum lipid levels including total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, saturated fatty acid, mono-unsaturated fa tty acid and polyunsaturated fatty acid were measured. Obstetric variables and serum Lipid levels were compared between the two groups. In each group the correlations of fetal serum lipid levels with maternal serum lipid leve ls were investigated. Results There were no significant differences in maternal age, neonatal wei ght, gestational duration, placental weight and neonatal gender distributio n between the two groups. Only the two fetal serum lipid levels (including total cholesterol and non-high density lipoprotein cholesterol) showed a co rrelation with maternal fetal lipid levels with correlation coefficients > 0.3 in the caesarean section group. However, saturated fatty acid, mono-uns aturated fatty acid and total fatty acid levels in the non-high density lip oprotein low density lipoprotein, very low density lipoprotein, intermediat e density lipoprotein and free fatty acid fraction in the umbilical cord se rum were significantly higher in the vaginal delivery cases (P < 0.01). Conclusions Umbilical cord serum levels of saturated and mono-unsaturated f atty acids increase during vaginal delivery.