Factors influence the separation time of the umbilical cord in healthy term newborns

Background: More than 4 million neonates died yearly because of infections, among them, umbilical cord infections contribute to one million of them, thus, proper handling and care of the umbilical cord after delivery may have a great benefit in reducing worldwide neonatal mortality. Objectives: Estimation of the mean time of separation of the umbilical cord within a limited sample size of the term newborns and assessing the influence of different factors on the time of separation of the umbilical cord. Patients and method: A prospective study was held at the postnatal ward of gynecology and obstetrics department in Al- Yarmouk teaching hospital where 150 healthy term newborns were surveyed for the time of separation of their umbilical cord. Information were taken regarding age of the mother, parity, educational level, the type of residency and mode of delivery. All surveyed newborns were followed up by phone calls of the closest caregiver for cord care modality and exact day of separation of the cord Results: The estimated mean time of separation of the umbilical cord in the current study was 8.4 days with a range of (4-14) days. Alcohol mode of care was the most popular one (59 cases (39%)) with a mean time of separation of 9.2 days (the longest time among other methods), the dry cord method stood in the 2nd rank (43 cases (26%)) with mean separation time of 7.1 days (the shortest time among the other methods), whereas the least common identified method was Povidine application (7 cases (7%)), cord care method has significant impact on the mean time of separation with a P value of 0.006. Other factors (maternal and neonatal) had no significant values. Conclusion: The mean time of separation of the umbilical cord in this study was 8.4 days. Among the different maternal, natal and postnatal factors, only the cord care method showed significant impact on the time of separation of the umbilical cord in this study.