Association of gestational age, Apgar score and neonatal outcomes in newborns with meconium stained amniotic fluid

Abstract

Background: Infants born with meconium stained fluid are at increased risk of fetal hypoxia, evidenced by increased rates of abnormalities indicated by fetal monitoring in labor, low neonatal Apgar scores, and fetal deaths. The study is conducted to determine association of gestational age, Apgar score and neonatal outcomes in newborn born with meconium stained amniotic fluid in tertiary care centre of central India.Methods: The study was conducted over a period of 2 years from January 2012 to January 2014 in Department of Pediatrics, Sri Aurobindo Medical College and Hospital, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. One hundred newborns with meconium stained amniotic fluid (study group) and one hundred newborns with clear amniotic fluids (control group) were studied in this period. Gestational age, Apgar score and neonatal outcomes were compared among two groups.Results: The mean gestational age in study group was 38.89±1.14 weeks and in control group was 38.59±0.99 weeks. The mean Apgar score at 1 min was 5.80±1.59 in study group and in the control group was 7.86±0.35. 32 babies in meconium stained liquor had hypoxia of which 11 had respiratory distress, 11 required mechanical ventilation (MAS 08, sepsis 03), 2 newborns had HIE stage 2 and 5 patients died. The above findings suggest higher gestational age, lower Apgar score and poor neonatal outcomes are associated with meconium stained liquor.Conclusions: The study depicts significant co-relation with higher gestational age, lower Apgar at 1 and 5 minutes and poor neonatal outcome in babies with meconium stained amniotic fluid.