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Umbilical artery blood gas parameters in neonates with early onset seizures who die
Author(s) -
Williams Keith P.,
Singh Avash
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
bjog: an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.157
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1471-0528
pISSN - 1470-0328
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-0528.2004.00196.x
Subject(s) - umbilical artery , medicine , anesthesia , cardiology , pregnancy , fetus , biology , genetics
Objective To relate umbilical artery blood gas parameters to mortality among neonates with hypoxic–ischaemic encephalopathy related to early onset seizures. Design Population cohort study. Setting British Columbia Women's Hospital. Population Forty‐seven infants at ≥32 weeks of gestation admitted to NICU with early onset seizures secondary to hypoxic–ischaemic encephalopathy with umbilical artery blood gases done at delivery. Methods Patients were divided into two groups: (1) Infants with neonatal seizures who survived, and (2) infants with neonatal seizures who died related to hypoxic–ischaemic encephalopathy complications. Comparison of umbilical artery pH, PO 2 , PCO 2 , base deficit was done between the two groups with Student's t tests. Main outcome measures Umbilical artery pH, PO 2 , PCO 2 and base deficit. Results The PO 2 was significantly higher in the group that expired (18.36 ± 9.15 vs 12.33 ± 7.51). There were no significant differences in any other blood gas parameters between the groups. Conclusion Neither the umbilical artery pH nor base deficit is predictive of neonatal death in infants with hypoxic–ischaemic encephalopathy with seizures. The finding of a high PO 2 in neonates who died may indicate an inability of those infants to efficiently extract oxygen from blood.