Left ventricular mass in newborn with perinatal asphxia: Assessment of allometric relations and impact of birth weight

BACKGROUND Utero-placental insufficiency seen in perinatal asphyxia may adversely affect left ventricular (LV) geometry. AIM To document the LV mass values in perinatal asphyxia and to elicit associated factors. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study conducted in a tertiary health facility among newborns with perinatal asphyxia. Echocardiography was used to compare the LV mass of 84 new-borns with perinatal asphyxia with the LV mass of 48 new-borns without perinatal asphyxia matched for age. The data was analysed using SPSS version 25 (IBM, United States). RESULTS The mean LV mass (7.9 ± 2.3 g) of perinatal asphyxia is lower than control (10.1 ± 0.7 g) P = 0.001. New-borns with severe perinatal asphyxia had the lowest mean LV mass (7.1 ± 1.5), while the moderate group had the highest (8.8 ± 2.5), with the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) result of F = 1.26 and P = 0.289. The mean LV mass was highest on day 1 (8.1 ± 2.5) and slightly lower on days 2 and 3 (both 7.7 ± 1.9 and 7.7 ± 2.0, respectively). Though ANOVA result (F = 2.47, P = 0.7282) indicates no significant relationship between the age of the newborn and LV mass, a weak positive correlation was observed between LV mass and gestational age which is statistically significant (r = 0.269 P = 0.028). A moderate positive correlation between the LV mass and birth weight of newborn was observed. This is statistically significant (r = 0.610, P = 0.001). There was weak negative correlation (r = -0.10, P = 0.752), between LV mass and age of the newborn without perinatal asphyxia but a moderate positive correlation (r = 0.69, P = 0.015) was observed, between LV mass and weight in non-asphyxiated newborn. CONCLUSION This study showed that the LV mass in perinatal asphyxia was significantly lower than those without asphyxia. There was a direct correlation between LV mass and birth weight of neonates with perinatal asphyxia. Early detection of the cardiac disease, appropriate management and sustained reduction of birth asphyxia, and improved intra-partum quality of care are key.