The impact of labor at term on measures of neonatal outcome

For otherwise healthy patients at term, the risk of adverse neonatal outcomes is low, with the choice between elective cesarean delivery and trial of labor in general balancing the low risk of increased respiratory morbidity and thereby neonatal intensive care unit triage/admission against the extremely low risk of labor-related infant death and severe morbidity. However, this balance for the patients with previous cesarean delivery appears shifted, with less benefit from a trial of labor in terms of reduced respiratory morbidity and neonatal intensive care unit triage/admission and with increased labor-related severe morbidity/death, albeit with all of these still at a low level.