Intraocular pressure in infants and its association with hormonal changes with vaginal birth versus cesarean section

Abstract

To investigate cord arterial blood sample and the relationship between birth stress and intraocular pressure in infants at 5 min after delivery. The IOP measurements were taken using Tonopen-Avia tonometer to 158 newborns (158 eyes) at 5th min after birth, in a university hospital. Cord blood was collected within 3 min after delivery. Intraocular pressure, gender, gestation period, mode of delivery, and birth weight of newborns were noted from medical records. Sixty-two babies were delivered by normal vaginal delivery (NVD) and 96 by cesarian section (C/S). Mean IOP of NVD and C/S groups were 19.56 ± 3.84 and 17.42 ± 3.50, respectively. There was significant difference of mean IOP between two groups. (p < 0.001) There were significant differences between two groups regarding APGAR score (p < 0.001) and cord blood adrenaline (p = 0.003), noradrenaline (p = 0.008), and cortisol (p < 0.001) levels. There was no difference between infant corneal thickness measurements (p = 0.698). In correlation analyses, there is a strong negative correlation between the labor type and postpartum measurements except corneal thickness. Correlation analyses of the 5th min intraocular pressure of the groups individually revealed significant correlation in the NVD group. The conclusion is that the intraocular pressure of newborn infants was higher in NVD delivery compare to C/S. Blood hormonal changes in different anesthesia types and physical stress was thought as the main reason of this result.

Pediatrics Consequences of Caesarean Section—A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Perinatal stress leads to the increased production of catecholamine and cortisol in the infant's blood [21]. It is important for the development of pulmonary maturity [24] and the adaptation of the circulatory system to extrauterine life [25].…”

“…According to an increasing number of epidemiologic studies, children delivered by cesarean section more commonly developed respiratory and neurological disorders (e.g., autism spectrum disorders [11], schizophrenia [12]) and immune-related diseases, such as asthma [13,14], skin atopy [15], juvenile arthritis, coeliac disease [16], type 1 diabetes (T1D) [17] or obesity [1,[18][19][20][21][22][23]. It is worth noting differences between the occurrence of the above-mentioned conditions in cases when the surgical procedure was performed after delivery had started.…”

Arginine Vasopressin and Copeptin in Perinatology

“…Cortisol: 1 ( 20 ), 2 ( 21 ), 3 ( 22 ), 4 ( 23 ), 5 ( 24 ), 6 ( 25 ), 7 ( 26 ), 8 ( 27 ), 9 ( 28 ), 10 ( 29 ), 11 ( 30 ), 12 ( 31 ), 13 ( 32 ), 14 ( 33 ), 15 ( 34 ), 16 ( 35 ), 17 ( 36 ), 18 ( 37 ), 19 ( 38 ), 20 ( 39 ), 21 ( 40 ), 22 ( 41 ), 23 ( 42 ), 24 ( 43 ), 25 ( 44 ), 26 ( 45 ), 27 ( 46 ), 28 ( 47 ), 29 ( 48 ), 30 ( 49 ), 31 ( 50 ), 32 ( 51 ), 33 ( 52 ), 34 ( 53 ), 35 ( 54 ), 36 ( 55 ), 37 ( 56 ), 38 ( 57 ), 39 ( 58 ), 40 ( 59 ), 41 ( 60 ), 42 ( 61 ), 43 ( 62 ), 44 ( 63 ), 45 ( 64 ), 46 ( 65 ), and 47 ( 66 ); Norepinephrine: 1 ( 67 ), 2 ( 68 ), 3 ( 33 ), 4 ( 69 ), 5 ( 70 ), 6 ( 71 ), 7 ( 72 ), 8 ( 73 ), 9 ( 74 ), 10 ( 36 ), 11 ( 75 ), 12 ( 76 ), 13 ( 77 ), 14 ( 78 ), 15 ( 79 ), 16 ( 80 ), 17 ( 81 ), 18 ( 55 ), and 19 ( 66 ); and AVP: 1 ( 11 ), 2 ( 12 ), 3 ( 15 ...…”

Parturition and the perinatal period: can mode of delivery impact on the future health of the neonate?

“…Umbilical cord concentrations of adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol are also significantly lower in babies born by CS compared with VD (Elbay et al . ; Vogl et al . ), which may result in impaired development of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis and abnormal reactivity to stress (Taylor et al .…”