Author(s)

Janete Vettorazzi^1,2,3*, Gabriela Françoes Rostirolla⁴, Maria Alexandrina Zanatta³, Edimárlei Gonsales Valério^1,2,3, Charles Francisco Ferreira¹, Jose Geraldo Lopes Ramos^1,2,3

¹Postgraduation Program in Health Sciences: Gynecology and Obstetrics, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil.
²Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Faculty of Medicine (FAMED), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil.
³Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Faculty of Medicine (FAMED), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil.
⁴Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Faculty of Medicine, Universidade de Caxias do Sul (UCS).

Background: Recently, late umbilical cord clamping is generally recommended, which decreases neonatal anemia; however, it may also increase neonatal jaundice and some other poor outcomes. Objectives: We here attempted to determine whether late clamping actually increases the incidence of phototherapy for jaundice and other poor outcomes of the term “low-risk newborns”. Methods: With the approval of the Brazilian Registry of Clinical Trials (REBEC), a total of 357 low-risk newborns (singleton, uncomplicated pregnancy/delivery, in a Brazilian public institution) were randomized into two groups: group I (n = 114): cord clamping < 1 minute (early clamping) or group II (n = 243): cord clamping between 1 - 3 minutes (late clamping). Statistics were used appropriately (i.e., measures of central tendency, dispersion for continuous variables, Shapiro-Wilk, Mann-Whitney test, or Chi-square test). Results: Phototherapy was performed in 5.3% in both groups. Also, there were no statistical differences in the occurrence of secondary outcomes, such as sepsis, neonatal ICU admission, and transient tachypnea of the newborns: i.e., 0.9%, 15.8%, and 3.5%, respectively for group I versus 1.2%, 15.6%, and 5.8%, respectively for group II. Conclusion: Late umbilical cord clamping does not increase the need for phototherapy in low-risk neonates. This result corroborates the current recommendation of late cord clamping, whenever appropriate.

Phototherapy, Neonatal Anemia, Neonatal Jaundice, Late Cord Clamping

Vettorazzi, J. , Rostirolla, G. , Zanatta, M. , Valério, E. , Ferreira, C. and Ramos, J. (2022) Correlation between Late Cord Clamping and Phototherapy and Other Neonatal Unfavorable Outcomes: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 12, 193-200. doi: 10.4236/ojog.2022.123019.