Perinatal Risk Factors for Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy in Full-Term Infants with Normal and Low to the Gestational Age Body Weight

Abstract

In the department of neonatal pathology of the Chernivtsi regional children’s clinical hospital, 41 full-term newborns with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy have been examined with the aim of studying perinatal risk factors of the disease depending on birth weight. It is found that the main predictors of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy in small for gestational age infants were: mothers’ residence in urban areas (46.2 %); presence of chronic maternal disease (anemia, thyroid pathology) during pregnancy (46.6 %); concomitant congenital malformations in one third (30.8 %) of newborns; development of respiratory disorders at birth, requiring artificial lung ventilation (61.5 %); infants’ feeding problems (61.5 %). Hypoxic-ischemic lesions of the central nervous system in full-term neonates with adequate to the gestational age body weight were preceded by: pathological course of intrapartum period (fetal distress during labor due to tight nuchal cord in one fourth of cases and pathological delivery in one third (32.1 %) of cases), associated with the birth of one-third of neonates with asphyxia (Apgar 1st minute test ≤ 4 points), which often led to the development of cardiogenic complications (28.6 %), multiple organ failure (14.3 %) and seizure syndrome (17.9 %).