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Published on: November 20, 2015
Perinatal risk indicators for long-term neurological morbidity among preterm neonates
Margreet J Teune1, Aleid G van Wassenaer, Paula van Dommelen
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. m.j.teune@amc.uva.nl.
Objective:
Many obstetric interventions are performed to improve long-term neonatal outcome. However, long-term neonatal outcome is usually not a primary outcome because it is time-consuming and expensive. The aim of this project was to identify different perinatal risk indicators and to develop prediction models for neurologic morbidity at 2 and 5 years of age.
Study Design:
Data from a Dutch cohort study of preterm and small-for-gestational-age infants was used. Neonates who were born in The Netherlands in 1983 with a gestational age of <34 weeks and without congenital abnormalities were included (n = 753). Infants were divided in 3 groups: no handicap, minor handicap, and major handicap.
Results:
Common risk indicators for major handicaps at 2 and 5 years of age were male sex (odds ratio, 2.7 and 3.0, respectively), seizures after ≥2 days of life (odds ratio, 5.8 and 5.8, respectively), and intracranial hemorrhage (odds ratio, 3.8 and 2.6, respectively).
Conclusion:
In this cohort, male sex, intracranial hemorrhage, and seizures seem to be important risk indicators for long-term neurologic morbidity.
