UMBILICAL-CORD ENCIRCLEMENTS AND APGAR SCORES

Objective. To establish the relative influence of umbilical cord encir clements versus fetal growth restriction in determining fetal outcome. Methods. Twelve thousand and thirty-nine singleton births were studie d. The number of cord encirclements were noted. Fetal growth restricti on was measured as standard deviations from gestational weight. Fetal outcome was determined by using Apgar scores after 5 minutes. Results. For growth restricted babies, Apgar 5 was not affected by the presenc e of encirclements when corrected for the level of FGR. Only for infan ts larger-for-date did the encirclements affect their Apgar score. Con clusion. The poorer outcome for babies with cord encirclements and fet al growth restriction is due to the accompanying level of growth restr iction.