Prevalence, Risk Factors and Intra-Hospital Outcomes Relating to Peri-Intraventricular Hemorrhage in Premature Newborns of Gestational Age Less than 34 Weeks

Peri-intraventricular hemorrhage is one of the main causes of neurological impairment in premature newborns. To control their risk factors is necessary in view of the increasing survival of extreme preterm infants. Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of peri-intraventricular hemorrhage in premature newborns, identify the risk factors and observe the frequencies of intra-hospital outcomes of interests. Methods: This study was done in Brazil. This was an observational, analytical longitudinal and prospective study. The subjects included were newborns of gestational age less than 34 weeks who were admitted to two public hospitals between May and November 2015. To assess possible associated factors, obstetric, perinatal and neonatal data were analyzed (chorioamnionitis, antenatal corticosteroids, gestational age, newborn weight, Apgar score at 1 and 5 minutes, resuscitation in the delivery room, surfactant in the delivery room, newborn transferred from another hospital, respiratory distress syndrome: RDS, sepsis, umbilical vein catheterization, assisted ventilation, exogenous surfactant in the Neonatal ICU, use of sodium bicarbonate, inotropic agents, adrenaline, volume expanders and blood products). The hospital outcomes studied were assisted ventilation time, hospital stay and death. The data analysis was performed by chi-square test or Fisher’s test, with a significance level of 5%. Results: Out of 156 newborns, 46 (29.9%) presented peri-intraventricular hemorrhage and 28.2% of these had a severe form of the disease. There were significant associations (p 0.05) with the following risk factors: gestational age, birth weight, low Apgar score, delivery room resuscitation, RDS, surfactant use, sepsis, packed red blood cell transfusion, mechanical ventilation and umbilical vein catheterization. The newborns with peri-intraventricular hemorrhage presented longer times on assisted ventilation, longer hospital stays and higher risk of death. Conclusion: The prevalence of peri-intraventricular hemorrhage was high in the population studied, especially the severe form. Perinatal and neonatal risk factors were associated with a higher risk of developing the disease and the outcomes studied were more evident in these newborns.