OBJECTIVEDiagnosing neonatal asphyxia solely according to Apgar score may lead to misdiagnosis. The aim of this study was to explore new and more accurate diagnostic criteria for neonatal asphyxia.

METHODSTotally 10 376 live born neonates in our hospital were consecutively enrolled into the study. The following five items related to birth asphyxia, i.e., antepartum high-risk factors, Apgar scores, umbilical artery blood pH, organ injury, differential diagnosis on the causes of low Apgar score cases were examined and registered. The relationship among the first 4 items were analyzed. By differential diagnosis, the sensitivity and specificity of each index on diagnosing asphyxia and their complementary value on each other were investigated.

RESULTSThe items correlated well with each other (P < 0.01 or < 0.05) but were not entirely parallel and consistent; they could complement but could not substitute for each other. The sensitivity of antepartum high-risk factors, low Apgar scores, umbilical artery blood pH < 7.00 and organ injury was 100%, 100%, 44.44% and 100%, while the specificity was 17.99%, 98.90%, 96.05% and 96.62%, respectively. Of the 230 low Apgar score cases in this series only 50.9% coincided with asphyxia. For the 230 cases, when low Apgar score was combined with umbilical artery blood pH < 7.00, the sensitivity and specificity were 41% and 99.1% and when low Apgar score was combined with umbilical artery blood pH < 7.20, the sensitivity and specificity were 100% and 29.20%, respectively. After organ injury was added, the specificity was increased to 65.49%. When differential diagnosis was further added to exclude the other causes of low Apgar score cases, the misdiagnosis rate was minimized.

CONCLUSIONUp to now, no single accurate index for diagnosing neonatal asphyxia is available. In order to increase diagnostic bases and reduce misdiagnosis, the criteria of sole Apgar score should be replaced by multi-index diagnostic criteria. Based on the present study, a set of integrated diagnostic criteria for neonatal asphyxia is proposed: (1) prenatal high-risk factors, (2) low Apgar scores (respiratory depression must present), (3) umbilical artery blood pH < 7.00, if only pH < 7.20, the items (2) (4) (5) must be present, (4) hypoxic-ischemic organ injury (at least one organ dysfunction), (5) the other causes of low Apgar scores should be excluded. The last 4 indexes should all be met and the first one serves as reference. If multi-organ (three or more organs) dysfunction and (or) hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy are present, severe asphyxia can be diagnosed.