Neonatal coagulopathy in preterm, small-for-gestational-age infants

S Hannam, C Lees, R J Edwards, A Greenough

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    21 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Our aim was to determine if antenatal hypoxia was associated with liver dysfunction and coagulation abnormalities in small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infants. Sixteen SGA infants, median gestational age 30 (range 26-32) weeks, who consecutively had had umbilical artery Doppler studies in the week before delivery, were compared to appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA) controls, who were each matched to an SGA infant for gestational age. The median international normalised ratio (INR) was significantly higher (1.9 vs. 1.3, p <0.001) and the neutrophil (p = 0.003) and platelet counts (p <0.001), alkaline phosphatase (p <0.001) and albumin (p <0.02) levels significantly lower in the SGA compared to the AGA group. The umbilical artery pulsatility index (PI) was elevated, indicating antenatal hypoxia, in all but 1 of the SGA infants. Multiple linear regression analysis demonstrated that the INR was significantly related to the umbilical artery PI independent of the other variables (p = 0.0002, R-2 = 0.71). These results suggest that the coagulopathy seen in preterm SGA infants might at least be partially explained by antenatal hypoxia affecting the liver and hence vitamin K-dependent coagulation. Copyright (C) 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)177 - 181
    Number of pages5
    JournalBiology of the Neonate
    Volume83
    Issue number3
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2003

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