Brachial plexus birth palsy: incidence, natural-course, and prognostic factors during the first year of life

Itay Fogel, Alan Katz*, Hen Y. Sela, Ehud Lebel*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the incidence of brachial plexus birth palsy (BPBP) in a large, single cohort and stratify clinical 1-year outcomes. Study design: A cohort study of all births occurring at a single institution between 2011 and 2015. Hospital discharge papers were analyzed, and structured telephone interviews were conducted. Results: Among 76,000 livebirths, 98 (0.13%) cases of BPBP were diagnosed. Of cases who fully responded to interview (66/98), at 3 months of age 77% infants made a complete recovery, and by 1 year of age an additional 20% had recovered completely. Only 3% of infants had residual longer-term neurological deficits. Conclusions: Predictors of a longer course of recovery were the presence of shoulder dystocia (p < 0.04) and right-sided palsy (p < 0.02). Birth weight, neonatal head circumference, and sex were not correlated with outcome. Future reports of BPBP should differentiate between infants showing early recovery from those with true BPBP.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1590-1594
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of Perinatology
Volume41
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature America, Inc. part of Springer Nature.

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