ArticleActa obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica2026
Twenty-year trends in fetal scalp-blood sampling and birth outcomes: A single-center retrospective cohort study of 40 309 women in labor.
Article in Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Twenty-year trends in fetal scalp-blood sampling and birth outcomes: A single-center retrospective cohort study of 40 309 women in labor.Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionAt Kuopio University Hospital (KUH), the rate of fetal blood sampling (FBS) among women undergoing a trial of labor has markedly decreased over the past 20 years. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of this decline with birth outcomes and how maternal and delivery characteristics have changed over the extended study period. MATERIAL AND
methodsThis retrospective registry-based study included 40 309 singleton pregnancies with a live vertex-presenting fetus at or beyond 33 weeks of gestation with a trial of labor and deliveries between January 2002 and December 2021. Prenatal and birth data were obtained from the KUH birth registry, and variables were analyzed across four intervals of 5 years. The evaluated birth outcomes included the mode of delivery, labor induction, meconium-stained or bloody amniotic fluid, birthweight, 5-min Apgar scores, physician-diagnosed asphyxia, perinatal death, and admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
resultsDuring the 20-year study period, intrapartum FBS was performed in 3486 cases (8.6%), while 36 823 women (91.4%) delivered without FBS. The use of FBS declined from 11.7% to 3.9% (p < 0.001). Concurrently, the rate of spontaneous vaginal deliveries increased from 83.6% to 87.6%, whereas nonelective cesarean deliveries decreased from 8.4% to 4.3%. Fewer newborns were diagnosed with asphyxia by physicians and admitted to the NICU. However, the incidence of low 5-min Apgar scores (<7) peaked with a 77.8% increase during the last study period compared to the preceding one, coinciding with the lowest rate of FBS use. General trends included declines in birth rate, maternal smoking, and gestational age at birth, as well as increases in maternal age, body mass index, and the rate of labor induction.
conclusionsThe change in FBS rate may reflect evolving clinical assessment criteria and more stringent selection strategies for its use. However, it may also be associated with an increased number of cases presenting with low Apgar scores.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.