The Estimated Cost of Early Cord Clamping at Birth Within Europe

Abstract

Early cord clamping has been a common although variable practice at all births throughout Europe for the past 40 years. It is known to result in a variable degree of hypovolemia, reduced cardiac output, reduced cerebral circulation, and an immediate loss of placental oxygenated blood. Hypoxic ischemia of the brain at birth is recognized to be a major underlying cause of cerebral palsy. Using very conservative estimates of the adverse effects of early cord clamping in a proportion of births according to the survey of its use in Europe and an estimate of the cost of care for an individual with cerebral palsy, we have calculated a possible cost for the intervention which is unnecessary and continued practice is largely the result of habit and poor understanding of the physiology of transition.