Resuscitation at birth lowers IQ in kid

Babies in need of resuscitation at birth have a lower IQ score even in the absence of brain damage due to the temporary lack of oxygen. At birth, the baby must change, within a matter of moments, from an organism dependant on the placenta for its respiratory function to a separate being that uses the lungs to independently perform the task. The infant will develop hypoxia and lose consciousness, if its attempts to inflate the lungs with air fails, making resuscitation necessary to help the respiratory center perform its task. Long periods of hypoxia, in which the brain is being starved of oxygen, may lead to long lasting brain damages; the condition, however, occurs in only a small number of newborns. According to a study published in The Lancet, babies requiring resuscitation at birth have lower IQ scores by the age of eight even in the absence of any apparent brain injury. Babies which developed signs of the brain abnormality known as encephalopathy and required further treatment were six times more likely to have IQ scores lower than 80. Some 3.4 percent of the children with a low IQ score resulting from oxygen deficiency belonged to the asymptomatic group and 1.2 percent belonged to the encephalopathy group. Scientists concluded that even mild hypoxic events which occur around delivery may damage the brain, resulting in irreversible cognitive defects that can be detected only after the child grows older.