Intraventricular hemorrhage in very low birth weight infants: associated risk factors and outcome in the neonatal period

• Autor(a) principal: Mancini,Monique Catache
• Data de Publicação: 1999
• Outros Autores: Barbosa,Naila Elias, Banwart,Débora, Silveira,Sandra, Guerpelli,José Luiz, Leone,Cléa Rodrigues
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista do Hospital das Clínicas
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0041-87811999000500004
• topic: Intraventricular hemorrhage; Newborns

Intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) is a severe complication in very low birth weight (VLBW) newborns (NB). With the purpose of studying the incidence of IVH, the associated risk factors, and the outcomes for these neonates, we studied all the VLBW infants born in our neonatal unit. Birth weight, gestational age, presence of perinatal asphyxia, mechanical ventilation, length of hospitalization, apnea crisis, hydrocephalus, and periventricular leukomalacia were analyzed. The diagnosis of IVH was based on ultrasound scan studies (Papile's classification) performed until the tenth day of life and repeated weekly in the presence of abnormalities. Sixty-seven/101 neonates were studied. The mortality rate was 30.6% (31/101) and the incidence of IVH was 29.8% (20/67) : 70% grade I, 20% grade III and 10% grade IV. The incidence of IVH in NB <1,000 g was 53.8% (p = 0.035) and for gestational age <30 weeks was 47.3% (p = 0.04), both considered risk factors for IVH. The length of hospitalization (p = 0.00015) and mechanical ventilation (p = 0.038) were longer in IHV NB. The IVH NB had a relative risk of 2.3 of developing apnea (p = 0.02), 3.7 of hydrocephalus (p = 0.0007), and 7.7 of periventricular leukomalacia (p < 0.00001). The authors emphasize the importance of knowing the risk factors related to IVH so as to introduce prevention schemes to reduce IVH and to improve outcomes of affected newborns.