Neonatal respiratory morbidity following elective caesarean section in term infants - A 5-year retrospective study and a review of the literature

Respiratory morbidity is an important complication of elective caesarean se ction. The presence of labour preceding caesarean section reduces the risk of neonatal respiratory morbidity. Recently, it has been shown that the inc idence of respiratory morbidity is lower in infants with a gestational age of at least 39(+0) weeks at elective caesarean section compared to infants with a gestational age less than 39(+0) weeks. This article describes the results of a 5-year retrospective study on the i ncidence of respiratory distress in term neonates delivered by elective cae sarean section in relation to gestational age and provides a literature rev iew on neonatal respiratory morbidity following elective caesarean section. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.