Correlation between Umbilical Artery PH and Neonatal Outcome in Preterm Delivery

Preterm delivery is a serious problem in pregnancy that its incidence is increasing. It is associated with multiple neonatal and long term complications. The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between neonatal outcome and umbilical artery pH in order to predict and prevent the neonatal complications that are most likely to occur if there is acidosis.

This case-control study was performed on 181 preterm neonates (27-37 gestational weeks) with acidosis of pH<7. 1 as a case group and 419 preterm neonates without acidosis as a control group who born at Ayatollah Roohani hospital of Babol during one year. Neonatal complications including admission in NICU، respiratory distress syndrome (RDS)، intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH)، retinopathy of prematurity (ROP)، disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC)، necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC)، bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD)، sepsis، and neonatal death were compared and analyzed in both groups.

There was a significant relationship between neonatal acidosis and the complications including admission in NICU (OR=24)، RDS (OR=6. 4)، ROP (OR=8. 5)، also there was a significant relationship between acidosis and sepsis، hypoxic encephalopathy، IVH، DIC and neonatal death (p=0. 001) but no significant relationship was observed between BPD، NEC، and neonatal acidosis.

The results showed that in the case of neonatal necrosis، most neonatal complications following preterm birth are likely to increase.