[Causes of perinatal brain damage].

The incidence of cerebral palsy has remained constant at 2 per 1000 life births in western countries through cesarean section and electronic fetal monitoring have been applied increasingly often since the last decades. There has been a shift towards prenatal causes and consequences of early prematurity. High risk deliveries (3% of all) should be performed only in specialized centers for perinatal medicine. For low risk deliveries local hospitals are more convenient and are traditionally well accepted in Germany. Perinatal hypoxia as a cause of perinatal brain damage is rare. Documentation of clinical symptoms of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy is mandatory in these cases. To investigate regional risk factors of perinatal brain damage we propose to connect the data of the perinatal inquiries and of the examinations of preschool children directed by german law.