[Routine examination of the mature newborn infant. Incidence of frequent "minor findings"].

From 1st January to 31st August 1989 2,248 healthy, mature infants were delivered at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Graz, Austria. They were routinely examined on day 1 and before discharge from hospital on day 4. Attention was paid to the presence or absence of minor abnormalities such as skin lesions, eruptions or rashes, cephalhaematoma, tongue tie, undescended testis, increased physiological jaundice, heart murmurs, talipes calcaneo-valgus, hip click, fracture of the clavicle and other common abnormalities and limb deformities. 20.9% of the investigated babies had no such findings whatsoever. In 79.1% of the subjects with one or more abnormalities, minor lesions due to birth trauma dominated with 24.2%, followed by postural deformities of the lower extremities in 20.5% and hip clicks and/or asymmetric skin-folds in 12.9%. Dislocation of the hip, however, was found in only 17%. Elevated serum bilirubin levels were noted in 33.0%, and in many of the jaundiced infants bruising or haematoma due to birth trauma was evident. Traumatic lesions were much rarer in infants delivered by caesarean section than in infants born vaginally.