Association between serum interleukln-1β levels and perinatal asphyxia

Objective:asphyxia is a major cause of acute mortality and chronic neurologic disability in neonates. we sought to define the predictive values of serum concentrations of interleukin-1 p in newborns with perinatal asphyxia to see if there is a relation between interleukin-1 p (il-ip) levels to the short term neurological deficit. methods:this was a prospective (case-control) study conducted between june 2007 and july 2008, at the neonatal intensive care unit, ghaem hospital, mashhad, iran. serum il-ip levels were measured at birth, 24 and 48 h post-partum in 38 consecutive uninfected neonates with perinatal asphyxia(blood ph<7.2, lowapgar score, signs of fetal distress) and 41 randomly selected healthy newborns (normal infants free of a postnatal clinical event during the first weeks of life). receiver-operating characteristic (roc) curves were used for the determination of thresholds for the asphyxiated group versus healthy neonate group. results:a total of 79 infants were studied. serum interleukin-1 p concentrations in the infants who developed hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy was 6 folds higher as compared to values in the normal infants (p< 0.006) and 5-folds higher compared to infants with asphyxia who did not subsequently develop hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (p< 0.006). there was also a significant relationship between serum il-1b and outcome at the time of discharge. conclusions:serum levels of il-1 b are increased substantially in neonates with asphyxia, and this is mostpronounced in neonates with poorer prognosis