Blood gas measures as predictors for neonatal encephalopathy severity.

OBJECTIVE: To correlate arterial umbilical cord gas (aUCG) and infant blood gas with severity of neurological injury.

STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective single-site study of infants evaluated for therapeutic hypothermia. Clinical neurological examination and a validated MRI scoring system were used to assess injury severity.

RESULTS: Sixty-eight infants were included. aUCG base deficit (BD) and lactate correlated with infant blood gas counterparts (r = 0.43 and r = 0.56, respectively). aUCG and infant pH did not correlate. Infant blood gas lactate (RADJ 2  = 0.40), infant BD (RADJ 2  = 0.26), infant pH (RADJ 2  = 0.17), aUCG base deficit (RADJ 2  = 0.08), and aUCG lactate (RADJ 2  = 0.11) were associated with clinical neurological examination severity. aUCG and infant blood gas measures were not correlated with MRI score.

CONCLUSION: Metabolic measures from initial infant blood gases were most associated with the clinical neurological examination severity and can be used to evaluate hypoxic-ischemic cerebral injury risk.