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To identify the risk factors associated with subgaleal haemorrhage and to assess the long-term neurological and developmental morbidity in survivors, data were prospectively collected over 5 years on 69 newborns with subgaleal haemorrhage from a cohort of 23,353 live and term deliveries, giving an incidence of subgaleal haemorrhage of 3.0 per 1000 live and term births. Multivariate analysis of risk factors associated with subgaleal haemorrhage on univariate analysis showed that prolonged second stage of labour (OR = 9.02; 95% CI 6.15-17.51), fetal distress (OR = 5.05; 95% CI 2.67-11.12), vacuum delivery (OR = 7.17; 95% CI 5.43-10.25), forceps delivery (OR = 2.66; 95% CI 1.78-5.18), and birthweight (OR = 2.20; 95% CI 1.54-6.56) significantly influenced the occurrence of subgaleal haemorrhage. When the effects of prolonged second stage of labour, fetal distress, birthweight and gestational age were controlled for, the odds of harbouring subgaleal bleed following vacuum delivery were, respectively, OR = 7.80 (95% CI 5.45-11.61), OR = 6.15 (95% CI 3.71-10.84), OR = 5.01 (95% CI 2.78-9.63) and OR = 7.65 (95% CI 4.73-16.65). Among the 69 newborns with subgaleal haemorrhage, ten (14%) died and twelve (20%) of the 59 survivors were lost to follow-up. Of the remaining 47 survivors, three (6%) died during follow-up of diseases unrelated to the bleed, leaving 44 survivors, none of whom had either neurological deficit or developmental delay. The study concludes that subgaleal haemorrhage in neonates is the result of birth trauma associated with difficult instrumental delivery. Newborns with subgaleal haemorrhage who survive the acute episode of the bleed show no evidence of subsequent long-term neurological deficit or developmental delay.

To determine the effect of prophylactic long-acting penicillin G in preventing recurrence of Sydenham's chorea and to discover the risk factors associated with occurrence of symptoms, 18 children with symptoms over a 5-year period were prospectively identified. Of these, ten were boys and eight were girls. The majority occurred between the ages of 8 and 10 years [mean (SD) 9.10 (2.62) years]. Sydenham's chorea was generalized in 14 children and one-sided in four. There was no difference in the incidence of right- and left-sided hemichorea. Among the risk factors examined, only a history of chorea in relatives had a significant association with the occurrence of Sydenham's chorea (OR = 6.39; 95% CI 1.30-31.3). A comparison of recurrence between those given prophylactic long-acting penicillin G and those who had none showed a statistically significant difference in the recurrence experience between the two groups (p < 0.02).

For a period of slightly over 4 years, 80 children who had been seizure-free for at least 18 months while on anti-convulsant medication were prospectively collected. These 80 children were randomly assigned to either the 18-months seizure-free group (n 5 41) or to the group where anti-convulsant medications were continued for another 6 months before they were gradually tapered off and stopped, i.e. the 24-months seizure-free group (n 5 39). Twelve (29%) of the 41 children who had been seizure-free for 18 months and 14 (36%) of the 39 children who had been seizure-free for 24 months had seizure recurrence during the follow-up period. Log-rank test of the recurrence experience of the two groups of patients showed no statistically signi® cant difference between the groups (p . 0.50). Similarly, when both groups were combined and other risk variables likely to in¯uence the rate of seizure recurrence were tested, only EEG abnormality at discontinuation of anti-convulsant medication had a signi® cant association with the risk of seizure recurrence (p , 0.001).