Maternal and fetal digoxin-like immunoreactive factor in elective cesarean sections and spontaneous vaginal delivery

The effect of mode of delivery on maternal and newborn plasma levels of total digoxin-like immunoreactive factor was evaluated. 32 healthy at term parturients with normal fetuses were studied. The cord blood level of digoxin-like immunoreactive factor of the 16 vaginally delivered infants was significantly higher than in the 16 matched controlled newborns delivered by an elective Cesarean section (1381 +/- 334 versus 1104 +/- 338 pg/ml, p less than 0.02). No differences were found between the maternal venous blood levels of digoxin-like immunoreactive factor of both study groups. The cord blood levels of this factor in the vaginal as well as the Cesarean section groups were significantly higher than the concentration in the corresponding maternal blood (p less than 0.001 and p less than 0.01, respectively). It is suggested that the changes in digoxin-like immunoreactive factor in the cord blood may reflect the stress of vaginal delivery on the fetus.