Caesarean section prematurely alters the baby's immune response

What happens if we go ahead with a premature birth? When labor is delivered by caesarean section before the mother's body begins to work in childbirth, this has consequences for the baby. According to a recent investigation in Denmark, the Caesarean section before labor alters the baby's immune response.

"The profile of circulating immune cells varies between babies born by natural birth and those born by caesarean section before labor, "they explain in Scientific American, who have echoed this important study published in Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology by the team of Dr. Hans Bisgaar of the University of Copenhagen, in the capital of the Scandinavian country.


Risks in babies after caesarean section before labor

According to the researchers, this alteration makes the baby more at risk of developing diseases. The main physician of the study explains in this regard that the caesarean before labor "is related to a distinctive change and associated with the gestational age of the surrounding immune cells in newborns." That is, according to this research, the work of natural childbirth "would strengthen the immunological maturation of the baby".

To reach this conclusion, the team of experts studied exhaustively the profile of 23 subgroups of innate and adapted immune cells of 91 full-term babies: 14 had been born by caesarean section before labor, six had been born by cesarean during labor and the remaining 71 had been vaginally born.


With this analysis, they observed that seven cell subgroups had significant differences between neonates who had been born by caesarean section and those who had arrived in the world by natural birth, while no differences were found in the frequencies of the different immunological cells among the children had been born by cesarean during labor or vaginally.

Previous studies on caesarean section and natural childbirth

This research joins previous studies that had already shown that there are differences "in the patterns of microbial colonization among neonates after a cesarean section versus a natural birth". That is, in vaginal delivery, when the baby goes through the birth canal your intestine is colonized by bacteria that strengthen your immune system and, therefore, protect you from possible diseases.

The lack of passage through this conduit would explain the relationship between cesarean section and the risk of developing diseases mediated by the immune system. Even so, the team stresses the importance of the absence of "uterine immunological programming associated with labor in babies born by caesarean section before that stage of delivery."


The conclusion of this work is not that the cesarean section should not be performed, but that the birth should not be provoked until the child has decided to be born: then the "labor of childbirth" will have begun in the body of the mother and the baby will be ready also for cesarean if necessary.

When to go to caesarean section

These precautions when going to caesarean section are in line with the recommendations of the WHO World Health Organization, which on several occasions has been concerned about the increase in these operations and has requested that it be used only when clinically necessary.

The UN body criticizes that "often" this surgery is performed "without medical necessity", something that exposes both women and their babies to unnecessary health risks in the long and short term, as seen with the latter study.

At this point, he insists on focusing on the needs of the patient and resorting to caesarean section only when vaginal delivery may pose a risk to the mother or baby, in prolonged deliveries, due to fetal distress or if the baby is in a different position .

Angela R. Bonachera

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