ABSTRACT
We sought to describe neonatal morbidities and therapeutic interventions in very low-birth-weight
(VLBW) and extremely low-birth-weight (ELBW) infants cared for in Spanish hospitals.
We preformed a prospective collection of data covering the perinatal period until
discharge by the SEN1500 network. This network, set up by the Spanish Society of Neonatology,
targets VLBW and ELBW infants (400 to 1500 g) admitted to neonatal units in Spanish
hospitals. Data were recorded in electronic form and controlled for possible errors
or inconsistencies before analysis. We report data for 8836 neonates admitted to 48
neonatal units from January 2002 to December 2005. Prenatal steroids were given to
significantly more newborns in 2003 to 2005 (79.4%) than in 2002 (73.4%), although
the remaining perinatal data examined failed to significantly vary. Delivery was by
cesarean section in 69.8% of cases but significantly lower (35.9%) for infants under
a postmenstrual age of 26 weeks. Hyaline membrane disease was diagnosed in 53.9% of
the newborns and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in 10.46%. Mechanical ventilation
was employed in 69.1%, surfactant in 50.3%, and steroids for BPD in 5.3%. Intraventricular
hemorrhage grades 3 to 4 (8.1%) and cystic leukomalacia (2.6%) were the most relevant
brain ultrasonography findings. Rates of early- and late-onset septicemia were 5%
and 29.4%, respectively. Further diagnoses were necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC; 6.9%)
and persistent ductus arteriosus (PDA; 24.2%); 40.6% of the cases of NEC and 15.3%
of those of PDA required surgery. In addition, 26.6% of the newborns required supplementary
oxygen at 28 days of life. The number of newborns who had not recovered their birth
weight at this age fell from 3.1% in 2002 to 1.5% in 2005. Rates of prenatal steroid
use, cesarean delivery, and main morbidities were comparable to figures cited for
other patient series, although our BPD rate was among the lowest reported and nosocomial
sepsis rate among the highest.
KEYWORDS
Very low-birth-weight infant - preterm morbidity - clinical status at 28 days and
on discharge - neonatal network
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Manuel MoroM.D. Ph.D.
Servicio de Neonatología, Hospital Clínico de San Carlos
c/ Martin Lagos s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain