Decreased Use of Postnatal Corticosteroids in Extremely Preterm Infants without Increasing Chronic Lung Disease

Background: Postnatal corticosteroids are effective in preventing chronic lung disease in preterm infant. There are concerns that corticosteroid use may be associated with an increased risk of impaired neurodevelopment. Objective: To examine the effect of change in practice with the use of postnatal corticosteroids over an 8-year period in extremely preterm babies on the incidence of chronic lung disease (CLD) and cerebral palsy at 1 year of age. Methods: Babies of birth weigh

Assessment of bioelectrical impedance for individualising gentamicin therapy in neonates

The use of bioelectrical impedance (BI) analysis as a non-invasive approach for individualising gentamicin therapy in newborn infants has been investigated in a two phase study. In Phase I, 1/impedance and length2 were identified as statistically significant predictors of the distribution volume of gentamicin (Adj R2 = 0.78, CV = 12.42 %), and length2/impedance and post-conceptual age were predictors of total systemic clearance (Adj R2 = 0.83, CV = 14.5 %), following the administration of 2.5 mg.kg-1 gentamicin to 17 neonates (gestational age (GA) 27 to 36 weeks)

Extremely low birth weight and control infants at 2 years corrected age: A comparison of intellectual abilities, motor performance, growth and health

A 2-year cohort of 63 surviving extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants was prospectively studied and 60 of these infants, together with 44 normal birth weight control infants, were assessed at 2 years of age for intellectual abilities, motor skills, growth and health. The total ELBW group differed significantly from controls on overall Griffiths developmental quotient (99.3 vs. 103.8 P = 0.02) and in the personal/social subscale (100.7 vs. 106.7 P = 0.01). A subset of 43 of the ELBW infants was identified as low risk at discharge. No statistically significant differences were present between the low risk ELBW subset and controls in intellectual abilities though both the total ELBW group and the low risk ELBW subset differed from controls in fine and gross motor abilities, and in weight at 2 years. The total ELBW group also experienced more frequent ill health and hospital readmission

Association of Streptococcus mutans Infection and Oral Developmental Nodules in Pre-dentate Infants

Since dental caries may present soon after tooth eruption, we hypothesized that colonization of Streptococcus mutans can occur in the predentate stages. In this study, we examined S. mutans colonization and its association with oral developmental nodules (Bohn's nodules) in 60 pre-term and 128 full-term, three-month-old infants. Overall, S. mutans was cultured from 30% (56/188) of the infants, and oral developmental nodules were noted in 55% (103/188). Compared with the pre-term, full-term infants showed a higher prevalence of S. mutans (34% vs. 20%, p < 0.02) as well as developmental nodules (61% vs. 42%, p < 0.05). In both groups, S. mutans was positively associated with numbers of developmental nodules in a dose-response relationship (p < 0,001), and with maternal salivary levels of the bacteria (p = 0.03). The permanence of S. mutans infection was confirmed by repeat saliva sampling at 6 months of age. Our results thus showed that many infants have already acquired S. mutans at 3 months of age, prior to tooth eruption