OBJECTIVETo study the effect of cesarean section birth based on different indications on attentiveness in school children.

METHODSA total of 308 school children were assigned to three groups according to their birth model: natural delivery (n = 105), cesarean section due to social factors (n = 101) or medical factors (n = 102). The integrated visual and auditory continuous performance test (IVA-CPT) was performed for assessing attentiveness.

RESULTSThe IVA-CPT demonstrated that there were significant differences in the quotients of combination control, auditory response control, combination attention, auditory attention, visual attention, auditory vigilance, visual concordance, visual vigilance and visual attention among the three groups (p<0.05). The results of the IVA-CPT in the group of cesarean section due to medical factors was obviously poorer than that of the natural delivery group and the group of cesarean section due to social factors. However no significant differences were observed between the groups of natural delivery and of cesarean section due to social factors.

CONCLUSIONSCesarean section itself has no significant impacts on attentiveness in school children, while medical indications for cesarean section may contribute to major cause of attention deficit disorder.