Association of Newborn Screening Analytes with Type of Delivery Among Preterm and Term Births

Abstract

Introduction: Several factors have been observed to influence the value of newborn screening analytes (NBS) and should be adjusted for in the interpretation of blood spot samples. The thesis aimed to examine the association of NBS with 1) mode of delivery among term infants and 2) clinical subtypes (i.e., spontaneous onset of labour) of birth among preterm infants. Methods: A retrospective population-based cross-sectional study design was employed. A multivariable logistic regression model was used to examine associations between NBS and mode of delivery among term infants and subtypes among preterm infants. Results: 1) Metabolic profiles of infants born by planned cesarean delivery differ from those born by vaginal delivery following spontaneous onset of labour and 2) Metabolic profiles of preterm infants did not differ by clinical subtype. Conclusions: Our findings conclude that mode of delivery is an important covariate to consider in future modelling studies, but the inclusion of preterm birth subtypes is less compelling.