Box 1.

Western Australian risk factors for newborn encephalopathy [reproduced by permission, Refs ¹³, ¹⁴]

Preconceptional factors*	Antepartum factors*
Increasing maternal age	Maternal thyroid disease
Unemployed, unskilled labourer or housewife	Severe pre-eclampsia
No private health insurance	Bleeding in pregnancy
Family history of seizures	Viral illness during pregnancy
Family history of neurological disorders	Post-dates pregnancy
Infertility treatment	Growth restriction in the fetus Placental abnormalities

^*Significantly and independently associated with newborn encephalopathy in multiple logistic regression analysis (Ref. ¹³)