Introduction:

mixture of meconium and amniotic fluid is another indicator of intra-partum fetal development and a traditional indicator of perinatal asphyxia. However, this indicator shows important operational limitations; it does not correlate well with each other, having a high percentage of false positives and, consequently, is a poor predictor of early or late neurological morbidity of the known Acute Fetal Distress (AFD).

Objective:

to assess the association of meconium and amniotic fluid with Apgar score alterations at the Bennacer Bachir Hospital, El Oued, Algeria.

Methods:

a prospective, descriptive, longitudinal study of 628 births was conducted, 39 pregnant women who presented meconium fluid were chosen in a simple randomized sample, applying the Apgar test.

Results:

the greatest number of patients attended was between 25 and 29 years old. Seventy-six percent were nulliparous, 6,2 % of births presented meconium fluid, 48,72 % presented moderate and intense meconium 41 %, normal Apgar score (89,74 %), female sex predominated, and 64,1 % underwent cesarean section.

Conclusions:

despite the degree of intensification of meconium fluid, there was no relationship with low Apgar score in the highest percentage of pregnant women.

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