Occurrence of risk factors in newborn infants. A study of 22359 consecutive cases.

All the 22359 deliveries in 1971-1974 at the Institute of Midwifery, Helsinki, were analyzed for risk factors. 1196 infants (5.35%) had one or more risk factor at birth, the most common being an Apgar score of 6 or less at 5 or 15 minutes, hyperbilirubinaemia, and a birth weight of 2000 g or below. The other risk factors registered were neurological symptoms, respiratory difficulties, hypoglycaemia, newborn infants of diabetic mothers and cases with sepsis. 124 infants in the risk group died during the first week. This was 83% of the total neonatal mortality. Except for hyperbilirubinaemia, which was less frequent in 1974, there was no marked change in the composition of the risk group from 1971 to 1974.