A study involving 92 patients was designed to test the effect of topical povidone-iodine (Betadine), used as the perineal preparation agent for delivery, on both maternal and cord blood protein-bound iodine levels. There was no difference (p=0.05) in protein-bound iodine values between the 50 patients prepared with surgical detergent (pHisoHex) and the 42 prepared with povidone-iodine.