Optimal Timings Codebook.xlsx

A single-centre retrospective case control study was conducted. The protocol defined cases as all neonatal deaths or NICU admissions occurring within an eight-year period from 2012 to 2020, although no neonatal deaths occurred during this period following a vaginal breech birth. Controls were identified as the two vaginal breech births directly prior to the case where no neonatal death nor NICU admission occurred. Two previous births were used to prevent bias on the understanding that an adverse outcome can affect clinical decision-making for subsequent births.12 Any NICU admission was included because this indicates a neonate which requires additional observation, tests and/or intervention. Neonates who are not admitted are deemed as generally well.13 Additionally, separation from the baby was considered an important outcome by our Patient and Public Involvement Group,14 who also requested more information on the timing of cord clamping.
The study was conducted within the maternity unit at a London District General Hospital which serves a large population of 176,313 people. Two thirds are of white British ethnicity and one third from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds. The community the hospital serves is thought of as affluent, with good employment rates, particularly employment in high-end jobs. The hospital itself serves a wider community than the borough it is situated within and has 5000 births per year. It has a level two NICU situated within the maternity unit. The Algorithm was not in use at the site, and none of the authors were employed by the Trust, during the time period covered by the study.
Fifteen cases and thirty controls were identified from routine electronic health records. The Medical Record Numbers were sent to the Health Records Department for the complete files to be retrieved. Data were extracted by the lead researcher from the intrapartum care records and recorded anonymously in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.
A structured data collection tool was developed based on Reitter et al.13 The data collection tool consisted of information usually recorded in the notes during a breech birth and included: lead professional, type of breech, position, epidural, fetal monitoring, meconium, what emerged first, time each part of the breech born, documented manoeuvres used, time performed and information related to the condition of the neonate at birth.
To calculate our sample size, based on the work of Reitter et al,11 we hypothesised that the rate of exposure to a pelvis-to-head interval >3 minutes would be 25% among controls and 75% among cases. Using a case:control ratio of 1:2, we determined that 15 independent cases and 30 controls were required to infer an association between a pelvis-to-head interval >3 minutes and the composite neonatal outcome with a confidence interval of 95% and a power of 80%.
First, we calculated the time to event interval for variables of interest. We then reported descriptive statistics for all variables, including means, medians and range for continuous variables. Exposures and confounders were converted into binary variables, reflecting the cut-offs used in the Algorithm. These were then tested against the primary outcome using the non-parametric chi-square, or Fisher’s Exact tests where cell frequencies were too small for the chi-square test.

Logistic regression analysis was used to test the predictive values of meeting or exceeding the recommended time limits in the Physiological Breech Birth Algorithm. Further logistic regression analyses were conducted with all variables that showed an association with the composite neonatal outcome to determine their predictive value, and additional variables to explore their potential as confounding factors for investigation in future studies. Finally, a Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curve analysis was conducted to compare the sensitivity and specificity of the 7-5-3 minute time limits. All statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS version 26.