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. 2022 Jan;18(1):67-74.
doi: 10.1007/s12519-021-00481-6. Epub 2021 Nov 12.

Treatment status of extremely premature infants with gestational age < 28 weeks in a Chinese perinatal center from 2010 to 2019

Wen-Wen Zhang  1 , Yong-Hui Yu  2 , Xiao-Yu Dong  3 , Simmy Reddy  4
Affiliations

Treatment status of extremely premature infants with gestational age < 28 weeks in a Chinese perinatal center from 2010 to 2019

Wen-Wen Zhang et al. World J Pediatr. 2022 Jan.

Abstract

Background: There is a paucity of studies conducted in China on the outcomes of all live-birth extremely premature infants (EPIs) and there is no unified recommendation on the active treatment of the minimum gestational age in the field of perinatal medicine in China. We aimed to investigate the current treatment situation of EPIs and to provide evidence for formulating reasonable treatment recommendations.

Methods: We established a real-world ambispective cohort study of all live births in delivery rooms with gestational age (GA) between 24+0 and 27+6 weeks from 2010 to 2019.

Results: Of the 1163 EPIs included in our study, 241 (20.7%) survived, while 849 (73.0%) died in the delivery room and 73 (6.3%) died in the neonatal intensive care unit. Among all included EPIs, 862 (74.1%) died from withholding or withdrawal of care. Regardless of stratification according to GA or birth weight, the proportion of total mortality attributable to withdrawal of care is high. For infants with the GA of 24 weeks, active treatment did not extend their survival time (P = 0.224). The survival time without severe morbidity of the active treatment was significantly longer than that of withdrawing care for infants older than 25 weeks (P < 0.001). Over time, the survival rate improved, and the withdrawal of care caused by socioeconomic factors and primary nonintervention were reduced significantly (P < 0.001).

Conclusions: The mortality rate of EPIs is still high. Withdrawal of care is common for EPIs with smaller GA, especially in the delivery room. It is necessary to use a multi-center, large sample of real-world data to find the survival limit of active treatment based on our treatment capabilities.

Keywords: Active treatment; Extremely premature; Infants; Mortality rate; Withdrawal of care.

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Conflict of interest statement

No financial or non-financial benefits have been received or will be received from any party related directly or indirectly to the subject of this article. The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart of study population. EPIs extremely premature infants, DR delivery room, NICU neonatal intensive care unit
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Kaplan–Meier survival estimates of different gestational age stratification
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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