Clinical significance of airways colonization with Ureaplasma urealyticum in premature (<34 wk) neonates.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Ureaplasma urealyticum has been implicated in various neonatal morbidities in preterm infants. Its association with chronic lung disease (CLD) remains controversial. The aim of this prospective study was to investigate colonization of U. urealyticum in preterm infants (with gestational age <34 wk) and to evaluate the relationship between U. urealyticum colonization and neonatal morbidity including CLD.

METHODS

U. urealyticum was cultured from nasopharyngeal or endotracheal aspirates collected within 24 h of birth from infant <or=34 wk gestation weighing <1800 g admitted to a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of a tertiary care hospital in north India, and PCR was performed on the DNA extracted from these samples.

RESULTS

Twenty per cent of the study infants were colonized with U. urealyticum. The mean gestational age of the infants in the colonized group was less than that of non colonized infants (P<0.05). The peripheral total leukocyte counts and mortality rate were higher in infants with U. urealyticum colonization than in non-colonized infants (P<0.05). There was no significant difference between the colonized and non colonized groups with regard to the antenatal use of steroids, sex, cause of respiratory distress, use of surfactant, duration of ventilation.

INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: None of the 20 babies colonized with U. urealyticum developed CLD as compared with two (2.5%) of the non colonized group. Colonization of the airways with U. urealyticum had no significant role in development of CLD in Indian preterm infants.