Evaluation of the Relationship Between Fetal Distress and Ph of Umbilical Cord Artery of Neonates

3 Abstract: Decreasing fetal distress and possible side effects of it is a golden aim in obstetrics, so diagnosis of fetal distress is important in labour. Beside high value of Apgar score in diagnosis of fetal distress it is not precisely a predictive factor. In perinatal period fetal distress is defined by meconium in amniotic fluid and abnormal patterns of fetal heart monitoring. This study was designed to determine the relation between fetal distress and umbilical cord pH in neonates at birth. This study was performed on 400 pregnant women referred to shahid Sadughi and Mojibian Labour Hospital and did not have any disorders except DM, PIH and hypothyroidism. In both case and control groups immediately after delivery one milliliter of umbilical cord artery was gathered by heparin syringe. Variables related to distress and demographic characteristics were gathered by a check list and analyzed by Chi-Square, Fisher Exact and T-Test. Mean ± SD of age in case and control group was 27.52±5.27 and 27.18±4.81, respectively. There was not a significant difference between groups. There was a significant difference between groups for first and 5 minutes APGAR scores. Acceleration and th late deceleration were also related to fetal distress. In our survey, two neonates had pH less than 7.14 one between 7 to 7.2 and other was more than 7.2. Mean ± SD of pH was 7.35±0.09 and 7.36±0.07 in case and control groups, respectively. According to our data, baseline disorders of mothers including hypothyroidism, PIH, Overt DM and GDM had no relation with fetal distress. Beside this we can concluded that pH, PCO2 and Base Deficit of umbilical cord are not a precise predictive factor for fetal distress.