| Abstrakt: |
Objective: To determine the association between umbilical cord length and feto-maternal outcomes in term pregnancies Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out at Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar Pakistan from March 2023 to September 2023 involving 153 pregnant women aged 18-40 with a fetus of 37 to 42 weeks of gestation and with spontaneous labor. Labor was monitored using a partogram and frequent fetal heart rate auscultation. Abnormal fetal heart rate was detected on CTG. Fetal cord length was measured and categorized into long, normal, and short cords. Maternal and fetal outcomes were noted. Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 23 and the Chi-square test with a p-value of ≤ 0.05 was considered significant. Results: The study found that the mean maternal age was 29.30±8.48 years, the mean gestational age was 38.098±4.19 years, and the mean cord length was 53.75 ± 21.79 cm. The majority of cases were in the normal cord category (72.55%), followed by long cords (17.65%) and short cords (9.8%). Abnormal APGAR score was observed in 4.5%, 40%, and 25.9% of infants in normal, short, and long cords groups respectively. Stillbirths were observed in 4.6%, 26.67%, and 18.52% of infants in normal, short, and long cords groups respectively. Normal vaginal deliveries were observed in 87.38%, 53.33%, and 62.97% of mothers with infants in normal, short, and long cords groups respectively, while forceps delivery was performed in 5.4%, 2%, and 7.4% in normal, short, and long cords groups respectively. Cesarean section was performed in 16.22%), 26.67%, and 29.63% of mothers with infants in normal, short, and long cords groups respectively. Conclusion: The current study concludes that there is an association between umbilical cord length and fetal outcome. With abnormal umbilical cord length, the possibility of fetal asphyxia i.e., decreased APGAR score and fetal mortality increases. However, the umbilical cord length is not significantly associated with maternal outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
