[Neonatal asphyxia--prognosis based on clinical findings during delivery and the first day of life. A retrospective study of 54 newborn infants with asphyxia].

A retrospective study of a cohort of 54 term infants with perinatal asphyxia admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit at Hvidovre University Hospital i 1995 is described. The purpose of the study was to find clinical markers for prediction of outcome after perinatal asphyxia. Neither complications of pregnancy, gestational age, the sex of the infant, passage of meconium before delivery, abnormal fetal heart rate nor birth weight seemed to have any interrelationship with outcome. The Apgar score was more depressed, and the metabolic acidosis worse among the infants with poor outcome. The best predictor of outcome after intrapartum asphyxia was the severity of postasphyxial encephalopathy. No infant with mild or moderate postasphyxial encephalopathy died or developed any handicap. All with severe postasphyxial encephalopathy either died or developed minor handicaps.