Effects of early essential newborn care on hypothermia and short-term outcomes in vaginally born preterm infants / 中华围产医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the effects of early essential newborn care (EENC) on body temperature and short-term clinical outcomes of vaginally born preterm infants at 1 h after birth. Methods This was a prospective case-control study. A total of 97 premature infants, who were born vaginally between 34-37 weeks in the Obstetrics Department of General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University from January 1 to December 31, 2017 and admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit were enrolled as intervention group. Another 103 premature infants, who were born vaginally in the Obstetrics Department of Yinchuan Maternal and Child Health Hospital at the same period were enrolled as control group. EENC-based treatment and management were implemented to infants in the intervention group, such as thorough drying immediately, 30 min skin-to-skin contact immediately and delayed cord clamping after birth, etc., while those in the control group were managed based on routine protocol. Chi-square test was used to compare the incidence of hypothermia, hypoglycemia and hypoxemia between the two groups at 1 h after birth. The general condition and the time of colostrum secretion were compared by two independent sample t-test. Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the risk factors of hypothermia. Results At last, 96 participants in the intervention group and 102 in the control group were analyzed. Compared with the control group, the intervention group showed lower incidence of hypothermia [17.7% (17/96) vs 37.3% (38/102), χ2=9.418, P=0.002], hypoglycemia [9.4% (9/96) vs 19.6% (20/102), χ2=4.142, P=0.042] and hypoxemia [14.6% (14/96) vs 28.4% (29/102), χ2=5.578, P=0.018] at 1 h after birth and earlier colostrum secretion [(18.3±2.4) vs (31.4±3.5) min, t=32.463, P<0.001]. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that birth weight <2 500 g ( OR=2.483, 95% CI 1.731-3.234, P=0.025), gestational age<36 weeks (OR=1.899, 95%CI 1.325-2.472, P=0.012), room temperature between 22-24℃in the delivery ward (OR=2.465, 95% CI 1.279-4.754, P=0.007), no-skin contact (OR=2.958, 95%CI 1.435-4.481, P=0.023) and rapid and simple drying ( OR=2.467, 95% CI 1.285-4.736, P=0.006) were the risk factors for hypothermia in premature infants. Conclusions EENC can reduce the incidence of hypothermia, hypoglycemia and hypoxemia in premature infants at 1 h after birth and may be helpful for early colostrum secretion.