ABSTRACT
Objective To study the reference range of umbilical artery blood gas and the significance of umbilical artery blood pH on the diagnosis of neonatal asphyxia. Methods Five thousand six hundred and eleven live-births new born in our hospital were consecutively enrolled. The following five items related to birth asphyxia were recorded including antepartum high-risk factors, Apgar scores, umbilical artery blood pH, organ damage, and differential diagnosis on the causes of low Apgar score. Reference range of umbilical artery blood gas, the correlations between the umbilical artery blood pH and the other items were analysed. Results The reference range of umbilical artery blood gas ((x|-)?2s) were pH 7.00 - 7.40, PaO2 0.34 - 6.10 kPa, PaCO2 3.43 - 10.03 kPa, BE 1.5 - - 18. 5 mmol/L. The umbilical artery blood pH was negatively correlated with organ damage (r = - 0. 99,P