Purpose. To examine the most prevalent risk factors found in patients with permanent obstetric brachial plexus injury (OBPI) to identify better predictors of injury. Methods. A population-based study was performed on 241 OBPI patients who underwent surgical treatment at the Texas Nerve and Paralysis Institute. Results. Shoulder dystocia (97%) was the most prevalent risk factor. We found that 80% of the patients in this study were not macrosomic, and 43% weighed less than 4000？g at birth. The rate of instrument use was 41% , which is 4-fold higher than the 10% predicted for all vaginal deliveries in the United States. Posterior subluxation and glenoid version measurements in children with no finger movement at birth indicated a less severe shoulder deformity in comparison with those with finger movement. Conclusions. The average birth weight in this study was indistinguishable from the average birth weight reported for all brachial plexus injuries. Higher birth weight does not, therefore, affect the prognosis of brachial plexus injury. We found forceps/vacuum delivery to be an independent risk factor for OBPI, regardless of birth weight. Permanently injured patients with finger movement at birth develop more severe bony deformities of the shoulder than patients without finger movement. 1. Introduction The incidence of obstetric brachial plexus injury (OBPI) is about 1.51 [1] per 1000 live births in the United States and reports vary from 0.38 [2] to 5.8 [3] per 1000 live births. Many of these injuries are transient; however, most of the OBPI patients never recover full function and develop permanent injuries [2, 4, 5]. In reports conducted by pediatricians and specialists, with follow-up times greater than 3 years, the reported proportion of injuries that remain permanent varies from 50 to 90% [6–8]. Risk factors for injury include shoulder dystocia, macrosomia (defined as birth weight greater than 4500？g [9–12]) instrument-assisted delivery, and downward traction of the fetal head [1, 7, 8]. Yet in a database search of over 11 million births, it was found that most children with neonatal brachial plexus palsy did not have known risk factors [1]. In obstetrics, presentation of shoulder dystocia is often emergent because the reported risk factors for its occurrence are not good predictors of it [13, 14]. Therefore we seek to examine the most prevalent risk factors found in a population of patients with permanent OBPI that necessitated surgical treatment to attempt to identify better predictors of injury and to elucidate the pathophysiology of OBPI.
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