Cost–effectiveness analysis finds offering routine ultrasound screening improves health of mothers and babies

The Pregnancy Outcome Prediction study found that offering routine ultrasound screening at 36 weeks gestation lowered the risk of breech delivery, emergency cesarean sections and the baby’s risk of death. A recent cost–effectiveness analysis by University of Cambridge (UK) researchers, published in PLOS Medicine, has found that late-pregnancy ultrasound would identify around 14,826 otherwise undiagnosed breech presentations. The Pregnancy Outcome Prediction (POP) study also found it could prevent 7.89 neonatal mortalities in England annually. The Pregnancy Outcome Prediction (POP) study was a cost-effectiveness analysis and prospective cohort study in England including 3,879 women who received ultrasound screening at approximately 12...