title: Hematocrit in relation to Apgar scores in SGA infants.
abstract: SGA infants have an increased incidence of low Apgar scores. At the same time they frequently have a high hematocrit. Since both affect outcome, it is important to know if a relationship exists between these two factors. In a study of 139 SGA newborns many had low Apgar scores at one minute: 63% of the preterms and 29% of the fullterms. Frequent abnormal hematological findings included high hematocrit. We found a positive correlation between hematocrit and the Apgar score at one minute of life that was statistically significant. The babies with a high hematocrit had significantly more often good Apgar scores. The correlation was present in preterm babies (r = 0.55) as well as in fullterms (r = 0.32). It is concluded that a high hematocrit probably protects the SGA newborn against acute perinatal asphyxia. It is possible that both low Apgar scores and "normal" hematocrit are signs of a chronically impaired SGA fetus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Free University Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: De Grauw
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Budde
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Samsom
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Hopkins
mesh_terms: D001034:Apgar Score; D006400:Hematocrit; D006801:Humans; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000097:blood; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007236:Infant, Small for Gestational Age / Q000097:blood*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies