Neurological impairments in hypoxic neonates and lactate levels.

INTRODUCTION: Metabolic acidosis with increasing lactate concentration develops due to the lack of oxygen in the tissues.

OBJECTIVES: The effect of lactic acidosis on neurological development in the first year of life.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Our study included 50 newborns with perinatal hypoxia requiring oxygen therapy and 50 healthy newborns. pH, pCO2, pO2, base excess (BE) and lactates from arterialized capillary blood were determined in both groups of newborns, in the first and second hours after birth, and neurological development in the first year of life was estimated.

RESULTS: pH, pCO2, pO2, BE and lactates differed significantly between the groups in the first and second hours after birth p < 0.01. Hypotonia was recorded in 20/50 cases and hypertonia was recorded in 10/50 cases in the first year of life.

CONCLUSION: Lactate concentration may be an indicator of neurological damage in neonates with perinatal hypoxia.