Mortality and morbidity in outborn extremely low birth weight neonates: a retrospective analysis

Objective We aimed to identify differences in morbidity and mortality between inborn versus outborn extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants admitted to the Texas Children's Hospital neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Study design Vermont Oxford Network data were analyzed between January 2014 and December 2017. Inborn versus outborn outcomes were compared. Result Of 533 ELBW infants, 402 were inborn, and 131 were outborn. Gestational age and birth weight (BW) were similar. After adjusting outcomes to control for maternal steroids, maternal hypertension, maternal prenatal care, and temperature below 36 °C at admission, no outcomes were significantly different except inborn patients had decreased odds of late onset sepsis (adjusted odds ratio = 0.606, 95% confidence interval: 0.377-0.973, p = 0.038). Conclusion In this study, outborn ELBW patients had increased odds of late onset sepsis compared with inborn ELBW patients after controlling for covariates that differed significantly between these two cohorts.