EPO and fetal growth restriction: Higher initial and 1 week EPO concentrations were also associated with lower Apgar scores, and there was a trend towards higher initial EPO in subjects with perinatal stressors such as emergent caesarian section (2.45 vs. 1.66, p = 0.07), IUGR (3.72 vs. 2.16, p = 0.14), and early sepsis (2.84 vs. 2.08, p = 0.14) (Table 4).