Importance Extremely preterm infants contribute disproportionately to neonatal morbidity and mortality. Objective To review 20-year trends in maternal/neonatal care, complications, and mortality among extremely preterm infants born at Neonatal Research Network centers. Design, Setting, Participants Prospective registry of 34,636 infants 22–28 weeks’ gestational age (GA) and 401–1500 gram birthweight born at 26 Network centers, 1993–2012. Exposure Extremely preterm birth. Main Outcomes Maternal/neonatal care, morbidities, and survival. Major morbidities, reported for infants who survived more than 12 hours, were: severe necrotizing enterocolitis, infection, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, severe intracranial hemorrhage, cystic periventricular leukomalacia, and/or severe retinopathy of prematurity. Regression models assessed yearly changes, adjusting for study center, race/ethnicity, GA, birthweight for GA, and sex. Results Use of antenatal corticosteroids increased from 1993 to 2012 (348/1431 [24%] to 1674/1919 [87%], p<0.001), as did cesarean delivery (625/1431 [44%] to 1227/1921 [64%], p<0.001). Delivery room intubation decreased from 1144/1433 (80%) in 1993 to 1253/1922 (65%) in 2012 (p<0.001). After increasing in the 1990s, postnatal steroid use declined to 141/1757 (8%) in 2004 (p<0.001), with no significant change thereafter. Although most infants were ventilated, continuous positive airway pressure without ventilation increased from 120/1666 (7%) in 2002 to 190/1756 (11%) in 2012 (p<0.001). Despite no improvement from 1993 to 2004, rates of late-onset sepsis declined between 2005 and 2012 for infants of each GA (median GA 26 weeks, 109/296 [37%] to 85/320 [27%], adjusted relative risk [aRR]: 0.93 [95% CI, 0.92–0.94]). Rates of other morbidities declined, but bronchopulmonary dysplasia increased between 2009 and 2012 for infants 26–27 weeks (26 weeks, 130/258 [50%] to 164/297 [55%], p<0.001). Survival increased between 2009 and 2012 for infants 23 weeks (41/152 [27%] to 50/150 [33%], aRR: 1.09 [95% CI, 1.05–1.14]) and 24 weeks (156/248 [63%] to 174/269 [65%], aRR: 1.05 [95% CI, 1.03–1.07]), with smaller relative increases for infants 25 and 27 weeks and no change for infants 22, 26 and 28 weeks. Survival without major morbidity increased approximately 2% per year for infants 25–28 weeks with no change for infants 22–24 weeks. Conclusions and Relevance Among extremely preterm infants born at US academic centers over the last 20 years, changes in maternal and infant care practices and modest reductions in several morbidities were observed, although bronchopulmonary dysplasia increased. Survival increased most markedly for infants born at 23 and 24 weeks and survival without major morbidity increased for infants 25–28 weeks. These findings may be valuable in counselling families and developing novel interventions.

BackgroundSingle-center studies suggest that neonatal acute kidney injury (AKI) is associated with poor outcomes. However, inferences regarding the association between AKI, mortality, and hospital length of stay are limited due to the small sample size of those studies. In order to determine whether neonatal AKI is independently associated with increased mortality and longer hospital stay, we analyzed the Assessment of Worldwide Acute Kidney Epidemiology in Neonates (AWAKEN) database.MethodsAll neonates admitted to 24 participating neonatal intensive care units from four countries (Australia, Canada, India, United States) between January 1 and March 31, 2014, were screened. Of 4273 neonates screened, 2022 (47·3%) met study criteria. Exclusion criteria included: no intravenous fluids ≥48 hours, admission ≥14 days of life, congenital heart disease requiring surgical repair at <7 days of life, lethal chromosomal anomaly, death within 48 hours, inability to determine AKI status or severe congenital kidney abnormalities. AKI was defined using a standardized definition —i.e., serum creatinine rise of ≥0.3 mg/dL (26.5 mcmol/L) or ≥50% from previous lowest value, and/or if urine output was <1 mL/kg/h on postnatal days 2 to 7.FindingsIncidence of AKI was 605/2022 (29·9%). Rates varied by gestational age groups (i.e., ≥22 to <29 weeks =47·9%; ≥29 to <36 weeks =18·3%; and ≥36 weeks =36·7%). Even after adjusting for multiple potential confounding factors, infants with AKI had higher mortality compared to those without AKI [(59/605 (9·7%) vs. 20/1417 (1·4%); p< 0.001; adjusted OR=4·6 (95% CI=2·5–8·3); p=<0·0001], and longer hospital stay [adjusted parameter estimate 8·8 days (95% CI=6·1–11·5); p<0·0001].InterpretationNeonatal AKI is a common and independent risk factor for mortality and longer hospital stay. These data suggest that neonates may be impacted by AKI in a manner similar to pediatric and adult patients.FundingUS National Institutes of Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Cincinnati Children’s, University of New Mexico.

Importance-Extremely preterm infants contribute disproportionately to neonatal morbidity and mortality.Objective-To review 20-year trends in maternal/neonatal care, complications, and mortality among extremely preterm infants born at Neonatal Research Network centers.Design, Setting, Participants-Prospective registry of 34,636 infants 22-28 weeks' gestational age (GA) and 401-1500 gram birthweight born at 26 Network centers, 1993-2012. Exposure-Extremely preterm birth.Main Outcomes-Maternal/neonatal care, morbidities, and survival. Major morbidities, reported for infants who survived more than 12 hours, were: severe necrotizing enterocolitis, infection, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, severe intracranial hemorrhage, cystic periventricular leukomalacia, and/or severe retinopathy of prematurity. Regression models assessed yearly changes, adjusting for study center, race/ethnicity, GA, birthweight for GA, and sex.

The use of inhaled nitric oxide in critically ill premature infants weighing less than 1500 g does not decrease the rates of death or bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Further trials are required to determine whether inhaled nitric oxide benefits infants with a birth weight of 1000 g or more.

Background-Inflammation mediated by cytokines may be important in the pathogenesis of bronchopulmonary dysplasia and the competing outcome of death in extremely low birth weight infants.

IMPORTANCEEarly-onset sepsis (EOS) remains a potentially fatal newborn condition. Ongoing surveillance is critical to optimize prevention and treatment strategies. OBJECTIVE To describe the current incidence, microbiology, morbidity, and mortality of EOS among a cohort of term and preterm infants. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSThis prospective surveillance study included a cohort of infants born at a gestational age (GA) of at least 22 weeks and birth weight of greater than 400 g from 18 centers of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and

Objective To assess the utility of clinical predictors of persistent respiratory morbidity in extremely low gestational age newborns (ELGAN). Study Design We enrolled ELGAN (<29 weeks’ gestation) at ≤7 postnatal days and collected antenatal and neonatal clinical data through 36 weeks’ post-menstrual age. We surveyed caregivers at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months corrected age to identify post-discharge respiratory morbidity, defined as hospitalization, home support (oxygen, tracheotomy, ventilation), medications, or symptoms (cough/wheeze). Infants were classified as post-prematurity respiratory disease (PRD, the primary study outcome), if respiratory morbidity persisted over ≥2 questionnaires. Infants were classified with severe respiratory morbidity if there were multiple hospitalizations, exposure to systemic steroids or pulmonary vasodilators, home oxygen after 3 months or mechanical ventilation, or symptoms despite inhaled corticosteroids. Mixed effects models generated with data available at one day (perinatal) and 36 weeks’ postmenstrual age were assessed for predictive accuracy. Results Of 724 infants (918±234g, 26.7±1.4 weeks’ gestational age) classified for the primary outcome, 68.6% had PRD; 245/704 (34.8%) were classified as severe. Male sex, intrauterine growth restriction, maternal smoking, race/ethnicity, intubation at birth, and public insurance were retained in perinatal and 36-week models for both PRD and respiratory morbidity severity. The perinatal model accurately predicted PRD (c-statistic 0.858). Neither the 36-week model nor the addition of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) to the perinatal model improved accuracy (0.856, 0.860); c-statistic for BPD-alone was 0.907. Conclusion Both BPD and perinatal clinical data accurately identify ELGAN at risk for persistent and severe respiratory morbidity at one year. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01435187

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