Neonatal Cord Blood PH versus Eucapnic PH as a Predictor for NICU Admission

Background: For clinicians to determine the possibility for neonate brain damage and guide therapeutic decisions to avoid long-term complications, as cerebral palsy involving umbilical artery cord PH, base deficit, and lactic acid, the majority of biomarkers that are utilized for assessing fetal wellbeing, neonatal metabolic acidosis, and its associated complications in newborns are inaccurate and non-specific. On the other hand, the PHeucap demonstrates that it is the best biomarker and predictor for newborn metabolic acidosis and the obstacles that are associated with it. Aim: To evaluate the value of neonatal cord eucapnic PH in prediction of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission in newborn subjected to perinatal asphyxia. Patients and methods: This prospective cohort investigation has been performed conducted on 40 newborns delivered at Benha university in Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), from 1 March 2023 till 1 March 2024 who subjected to perinatal asphyxia and cord blood pH and eucapnic pH were measured and correlated with parameters of morbidity and mortality. Results: ROC analysis (Receiver operation Curve) showed that eucapnic PH had best prediction for NICU admission with sensitivity (90.91%) and specificity (58.62%) at cut-off point(7.03), while umbilical artery (UA)cord PH had sensitivity (63.64%) and specificity (55.85%)at cut-off point(6.85). a significant positive correlation has been detected between UA cord and pH euc-n and between pH euc-n and UAco2 with(r=0.369, P=0.019). (r=0.789, P