Abstract: Objective To explore associations of the age of pregnant women and serum level of high mobility group box protein 1(hmgb1)with the occurrence of neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy(HIE)and to provide a basis for effective prevention of HIE.Methods With random sampling, 60 hospitalized neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy cases and 60 healthy newborns(controls)were selected in No.2 Hospital of Shandong University from March 2012 through March 2014.Serum hmgb1 levels of all the newborns were determined with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA).Results The maternal age of the cases (33.5±4.7 years)was significantly higher than that of the controls.Serum hmgb1 two hours within the birth in the cases was significantly higher than that in the controls and positively correlated with the severity of HIE and the recovery time from the disease.Conclusion Maternal age is positively correlated with neonatal HIE and hmgb1 of the newborn is a early indicator for clinical severity of HIE.