ERYTHROPOIETIN AS A MARKER OF PERINATAL RISKS

The purpose of this study was to estimate if the erythropoietin (EPO) concentration in cord arterial blood can be an indicator of a fetal ri sk. We studied EPO concentration measured by enzyme immonoassay in ten patient groups: (1) control group with healthy newborns (n = 72); (2) neonates born by elective caesarean section (n = 16); (3) newborns wi th acidosis at birth (n = 12); (4) newborns with 1-min-apgar <7 (n = 8 ); (5) preterm neonates (n = 25); (6) newborns with gestational age gr eater than or equal to 242 weeks (n = 19); (7) neonates born to mother s with hypertension (n = 16); (8) newborns with signs of fetal distres s in CTG (n = 29); (9) neonates born to mothers with diabetes (n = 19) , divided into two subgroups: diabetes White A-D (n = 8) and gestation al diabetes (n = 11); (10) neonates born to mothers with diabetes Whit e A-D and with acidosis at birth (n = 7). The geometric mean was 26.4 mU/ml in the control group. EPO levels was found significantly increas ed (p < 0.01) in the following groups: (3) newborns with acidosis (52 mU/ml); (6) newborns with gestational age greater than or equal to 242 weeks (63.5 mU/ml); (8) newborns with signs of fetal distress in CTG (47.1 mU/ml); (9) neonates born to mothers with diabetes White A-D (47 .7 mU/ml); (10) neonates born to mothers with diabetes White A-D and w ith acidosis at birth (> 64 mU/ml). We came to the conclusion that the cord arterial EPO concentration indicates a chronic fetal hypoxia and a longer duration of hypoxia before birth.