Focus on neonatal resuscitation - NOW

The paper by Saugstad et al. in this issue of Acta Paediatrica presents new and provocative data on the development of the child's physiological status during the first minutes of life. The data were extracted from the database of the Resair 2 study designed to investigate the outcome of resuscitation with air or 100% oxygen. The potential of these variables to predict the outcome of asphyxiated infants was evaluated. Conclusion: The data-in spite of some technical limitations and lack of representative reference measurements-point out the potential value of sequential physiological observations in the early identification of newborn infants at risk of poor outcome, challenge the routine habit of giving ample oxygen to depressed neonates, and call for further studies.