Temporal trends in severe maternal and neonatal trauma during childbirth: a population-based observational study

OBJECTIVE: Instrumental vaginal delivery is associated with birth trauma to infant and obstetric trauma to mother. As caesarean delivery rates increased during the past decades, the rate of instrumental vaginal delivery declined. We examined concomitant temporal changes in the rates of severe birth trauma and maternal obstetric trauma. DESIGN: A retrospective observational study.