Short interpregnancy interval and the risk of disabling cerebral palsy in a low birth weight population

The objective of this study was to investigate the relation of short interpregnancy interval and cerebral palsy (CP) in a low birth weight population in whom neonatal brain injury was systematically ascertained in the newborn period.

We used data from a prospective cohort study of 1105 infants born < or = 2000 gm, designed to study the cause and consequences of neonatal brain injury. Of the 777 children with data on brain injury and CP, 382 were born to multiparous women, and 375 had information available to calculate interpregnancy interval, defined as the number of days from the end of the last pregnancy to conception of the index pregnancy.

In the presence of the strong explanatory power of neonatal brain injury, short interpregnancy interval maintains an independent risk for disabling CP.

In this cohort of low birth weight infants, short interpregnancy interval appears to represent a significant risk for the development of disabling CP.