Temporal inversion of the acid-base equilibrium in newborns: an observational study

A considerable fraction of newborn infants experience hypoxia-ischaemia and metabolic acidosis at birth. However, little is known regarding the biological response of newborn infants to the pH drift from the physiological equilibrium. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the pH drift at birth and postnatal acid-base regulation in newborn infants.

Clinical information of 200 spontaneously breathing newborn infants hospitalised at a neonatal intensive care centre were reviewed. Clinical variables associated with venous blood pH on days 5-7 were assessed.

The higher blood pH on days 5-7 were explained by lower cord blood pH (-0.131, -0.210 to -0.052; regression coefficient, 95% confidence interval), greater gestational age (0.004, 0.002 to 0.005) and lower partial pressure of carbon dioxide on days 5-7 (-0.005, -0.006 to -0.004) (adjusted for sex, postnatal age and lactate on days 5-7).

In relatively stable newborn infants, blood pH drift from the physiological equilibrium at birth might trigger a system, which reverts and over-corrects blood pH within the first week of life. Given that the infants within the study cohort was spontaneously breathing, the observed phenomenon might be a common reaction of newborn infants to pH changes at birth.