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<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> There is a paucity of studies examining temporal trends in the incidence and mortality of moderate-to-severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) during the last decade of therapeutic hypothermia (TH). <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Multicenter cross-sectional study of all infants ≥35 weeks gestational age diagnosed with moderate-to-severe HIE within 6 h of birth in an extensive region of Spain between 2011 and 2019, in order to detect trend changes over time in the (1) annual incidence, (2) severity of neurological and systemic organ involvement, and (3) neonatal death from HIE. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Annual incidence rate of moderate-to-severe HIE was 0.84 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.7–0.97) per 1,000 births, without trend changes over time (<i>p</i> = 0.8), although the proportion of severe HIE infants showed an average annual decline of 0.86 points (95% CI 0.75–0.98). There were 102 (70%) infants diagnosed with moderate HIE and 44 (30%) with severe HIE. TH was offered to 139/146 (95%) infants. Infants with clinical and/or electrical seizures showed a decreasing trend from 56 to 28% (<i>p</i> = 0.006). Mortality showed a nonstatistically significant decline (<i>p</i> = 0.4), and the severity of systemic damage showed no changes (<i>p</i> = 0.3). Obstetric characteristics remained unchanged, while higher perinatal pH values (<i>p</i> = 0.03) and Apgar scores (<i>p</i> = 0.05), and less need for resuscitation (<i>p</i> = 0.07), were found over time. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> The annual incidence of moderate-to-severe HIE has stabilized at around 1 per 1,000 births, with a temporal trend toward a decrease in severe HIE infants and a slight decline of mortality. No association was found between temporal trends and changes in perinatal/obstetric characteristics over time.

ObjectiveTo determine the usefulness of video recordings for validating neonatal encephalopathy (NE) exams.DesignPopulation-based prospective cohort study. NE was assessed and recorded at 1, 3 and 5 hours after birth by the attending physician. Recordings were reviewed blindly after the recruitment period by two specialists. Outcome was assessed at 36 months of age.SettingTwelve intensive care units in Spain.PatientsInfants of ≥35 weeks’ gestational age with perinatal asphyxia.Main outcomes measuresWeighted kappa to measure disagreement between the two specialists and between the attending physician and the specialists’ classification agreed on by consensus. Regression models to test the association of disagreement on NE assessment and outcome.ResultsOf the 32 325 liveborn infants, 217 met the inclusion criteria. Video-recordings were not available for 43 infants (20%). Weighted kappa statistic was 0.74 (95% CI 0.67 to 0.81) between the specialists and the attending physicians. Disagreement occurred in 93 of the 417 (22%) videos, specifically in 39 (14%), 43 (47%), 11 (34%) and 0 exams categorised as no, mild, moderate and severe NE, respectively. According to the specialist consensus assessment, there was disagreement on the therapeutic hypothermia decision in 10 infants.When there was consensus among the specialists assessing a more severe NE degree compared with the attending physicians in 170 infants, those infants had lower cognitive scores with a median of −5.33 points (95% CI −9.85 to −8.16; p=0.02).ConclusionsThis study supports the feasibility and benefit of using video recordings to identify NE in infants with perinatal asphyxia.

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