Objective: Macrosomia is associated with increased birth injury and neonatal morbidity as well as a higher rate of cesarean delivery. Our purpose was to determine whether induction of labor after sonographic diagnosis of fetal macrosomia could improve maternal and neonatal outcome.
Study Design: The hospital records of 180 patients who delivered of an inFant with birth weight over 4000 gm were reviewed. The subjects were divided into three groups based on obstetric mana- gement as follows.. expectant management after sonographic diagnosis of fetal macrosomia(group I ), induction of labor(group lI ), unexpected patients who were underestimated of fetal weight(estimated fetal weight<90th percentile) (groupIII), Patients who underwent elective cesarean delivery and complicated with diabetes were excluded. Outcome variables for comparison in three groups were mode of delivery, 5 minute Apgar score below 7, presence of cephalohematoma, clavicular fracture, brachial plexus injury, and intraventricular hemorrhage.
Results: One hundred eighty patients who eligible for the study, of whom 32 patients were included to group I, 57 patients to group lI, and 91 patients to group Ill, respectively. The cesarean rate within elective induction group was 49%, which was significant higher than the 16% rate in expectant management group and 19% in unexpected group(p<0.05). The observed rates of cephalohematoma, clavicular fracture and 5 min Apgar score below 7 were not significantly different in three groups.
Conclusions: There was an significant increased cesarean delivery rate without improvement in neonatal outcomes or reduction in birth injury among pregnancies in which labor was electively induced after sonographic diagnosis of fetal macrosomia. Elective induction of labor should be discharged in cases with fetal macrosomia.
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