[Mortality risk after intrauterine and after neonatal transport]

In a Dutch national collaborative study of 1338 newborn infants born in 1983 with a gestational age of less than 32 weeks and (or) a birth weight of less than 1500 g, a comparison was made of maternal transport to university perinatal centres and delivery in local general hospitals on the one hand, and neonatal transport to those centres and treatment in regional general hospitals on the other. The mortality risk was investigated by means of logistic regression analysis. The results show that maternal transport was accompanied by a statistically significantly lower mortality risk. The mortality risk after neonatal transport, compared with that after treatment in regional hospitals, was also lower although not significantly. Mortality risk after neonatal transport was significantly associated with increasing transportation distance. The results of the study confirm that referral by maternal transport offers the best prospects for high risk preterm babies.