UMBILICAL-CORD BLOOD ERYTHROBLAST COUNT AS AN INDEX OF INTRAUTERINE HYPOXIA

The relation of umbilical cord blood arterial pH, Apgar score, leucocy te count, and erythroblast count at delivery with the diagnosis of fet al distress in labour was studied prospectively in three groups of sin gleton pregnancies delivering at term vaginally (55 infants), by elect ive caesarean section (39 infants), or by emergency caesarean section for abnormal intrapartum fetal heart rate patterns (55 infants). In th e emergency caesarean section group the umbilical cord blood arterial pH was significantly lower and the leucocyte and erythroblast counts w ere higher than in the elective caesarean section group. Comparison of the emergency caesarean section and spontaneous vaginal delivery grou ps showed significant differences for pH and erythroblast count, but n ot for leucocyte count. In the spontaneous vaginal delivery group eryt hroblastosis was associated with umbilical cord blood pH, whereas leuc ocytosis was associated with the length of labour. The five minute Apg ar score was greater than or equal to 7 in all infants. This study sug gests that leucocytosis is a non-specific response of the fetus to lab our, whereas erythroblastosis reflects fetal tissue hypoxia.