[Acute fetal distress and mental retardation. A prospective study (author's transl)]

A prospective study of neonatal status with a follow-up of 4 to 7 years, was performed in 74 full-term newborns with acute fetal distress (AFD). They were born between 0.1.12.1971 ad 31.12.1975. Mental retardation (M.R.) occurred in 4,8% of the control children (born in 1972 without problem) and in 20,2% (15 children) of the children who suffered from AFD; in 12 of these 15 cases, IQ is between 65 and 90, in 3 between 50 and 65. The prognosis is worse only after unexpected neonatal distress, not after AFD with a known etiology, or after use of a forceps. The prognosis is better when FD secondary to a cord anomaly lead to an obstetrical operation. It is also better after cesarean section (1 MR among 17) or when the mother chose a private obstetrician (0 MR among 25. Apgar score has no prognostic value. Some neonatal clinical and EEG symptoms have a poor significance : persistence of anomalies at one week, seizures lasting more than 2 days. Severe retardation is always associated with cerebral palsy (C.P.). Among 12 children with moderate retardation, only one has a C.P., the 11 others have a poor--intellectual, social and/or affective--environment.