Caesarean births don't prevent children developing cerebral palsy, research finds Caesarean deliveries can't prevent children developing cerebral palsy later in life, research finds. THE long-held belief caesarean deliveries prevent the development of cerebral palsy in children has been debunked by Adelaide researchers. The Australian Collaborative Cerebral Palsy Research Group, based at the University of Adelaide's Robinson Institute, analysed all published studies involving more than 3800 cerebral palsy cases and almost 1.7 million healthy children. It found the risk of cerebral palsy is not lowered by either elective caesarean before labour or emergency caesarean during labour. The research will be published in the December issue of the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology. Research leader Emeritus Professor Alastair MacLennan said it had been assumed for more than a century and without good evidence that most cases of cerebral palsy were caused by low oxygen levels or trauma at birth. "Over the last 40 years, caesarean rates have increased more than six-fold from 5 per cent to 33 per cent in Australia and in many other countries," Professor MacLennan said. However, the incidence of cerebral palsy has remained at 2-2.5 per 1000 births. He said the findings would influence legal cases where litigants claim earlier caesarean delivery would have avoided the cerebral palsy outcome. "We now need to focus our efforts on finding the antenatal causes of cerebral palsy and their prevention," he said. This could include genetic vulnerability and environmental triggers, such as infection. Lead author of the research, Dr Michael O'Callaghan, said the review of other studies had clearly shown the causes of cerebral palsy have little to do with mode of birth. "Therefore, the actual causes of cerebral palsy must lie elsewhere," he said. The Australian Collaborative Cerebral Palsy Research Group is investigating the probable genetic origins of cerebral palsy. The researchers said that while C-sections would not reduce the risk of cerebral palsy, carefully selected caesarean delivery may prevent stillbirth or reduce the risk of other complications in the newborn.