Intrauterine exposure to infection and risk of cerebral palsy in very preterm infants. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2003 Jan;157(1):26-32
Date
01/09/2003Pubmed ID
12517191DOI
10.1001/archpedi.157.1.26Scopus ID
2-s2.0-0037233250 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 90 CitationsAbstract
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate exposure to intrauterine infection as an independent risk factor for spastic cerebral palsy (CP) among very prematurely born infants.
STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective case-control study.
METHODS: Singleton children with gestational ages less than 32 weeks and birth weights less than 1999 g who survived to age 2 years and were born from 1988 to 1994 in a level 2 or 3 hospital in California were included in the study. Cases were children with congenital spastic CP (n = 170). Controls were children randomly sampled within 250-g birth weight intervals (n = 270). Gestational age was controlled through multiple logistic models. Major analyses were controlled for preeclampsia and short time between admission and delivery.
RESULTS: Neither clinical nor histologic indicators of intrauterine infection were associated with total spastic CP or spastic diplegia in these infants. Although not predicted by prior hypothesis, we observed an approximate doubling of risk for infants of infected mothers among children born to white women, whereas no association was noted among children born to women of other races/ethnicities. White controls had lower frequency of all measured infection indicators compared with white cases and cases and controls of other races/ethnicities.
CONCLUSION: Exposure to intrauterine infection was not an independent risk factor for CP in very premature infants when gestational age and other confounders were tightly controlled.
Author List
Grether JK, Nelson KB, Walsh E, Willoughby RE, Redline RWAuthor
Rodney E. Willoughby MD Professor in the Pediatrics department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
Birth WeightCalifornia
Case-Control Studies
Cerebral Palsy
Female
Gestational Age
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Infant, Premature
Male
Medical Records
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Complications, Infectious
Retrospective Studies
Risk Factors
