Small for gestational age and extremely low birth weight infant outcomes

Elinor Charles, Katie A. Hunt, Christopher Harris, Ann Hickey, Anne Greenough*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)
189 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Background: Small for gestational age (SGA) infants are less likely to develop RDS, but more likely to develop bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and have a higher mortality. Our aim was to focus on outcomes of those with a birth weight less than or equal to 750 gms. Methods: The mortality, BPD severity, necrotising enterocolitis (NEC), home oxygen requirement and length of hospital stay were determined according to SGA status of all eligible infants in a five year period admitted within the first 24 hours after birth. Results: The outcomes of 84 infants were assessed, 35 (42%) were SGA. The SGA infants were more mature (p<0.001), had a lower birth weight centile (p<0.001) and a greater proportion exposed to antenatal corticosteroids (p=0.022). Adjusted for GA, there was no significant difference in mortality between the two groups (p=0.242), but a greater proportion of the SGA infants developed severe BPD (p=0.025). The SGA infants had a lower weight z-score at discharge (-3.64 versus -1.66) (p=0.001), but a decrease in z-score from birth to discharge was observed in both groups (median -1.53 versus -1.07, p=0.256). Conclusions: Despite being more mature, the SGA infants had a similar mortality rate and a greater proportion developed severe BPD.
Original languageEnglish
Article numberPMID: 30335614
Pages (from-to)247-251
Number of pages251
JournalJournal of Perinatal Medicine
Volume47
Issue number2
Early online date18 Oct 2018
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 25 Feb 2019

Keywords

  • bronchopulmonary dysplasia
  • extremely low birth weight
  • necrotising enterocolitis
  • small for gestational age

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