Objective: oxidative stress plays an important role in a large number of neonatal diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of mode of delivery on pro-oxidant antioxidant's balance in umbilical cord blood of the newborns. Methods & Materials: In this prospective study we investigated pro-oxidant antioxidant's balance in umbilical cord blood of 163 term neonates (80 born via normal vaginal delivery (NVD) and 83 born via elective caesarean section (CS)).For this purpose, we examined hydrogen peroxide ratio to uric acid in the serum samples collected from 2 groups. Furthermore, we followed the babies mentioned; in their newborn period and investigated those in terms of the need for hospitalization, the cause of admission, weight gain, jaundice and general condition. Results: Umbilical cord blood pro-oxidant antioxidant's balance was not significantly different between the two groups. The average pro-oxidant antioxidant's balance was59.18±64.043 in the Umbilical cord blood of normal vaginal delivery group,and50.56 ± 44.233 in the elective cesarean group (P value=0.929). Conclusion: Our results didn’t show a significant relationship between umbilical cord blood pro-oxidant antioxidant's balance and type of delivery.
