Short-term outcome of very-low-birthweight infants with arterial hypotension in the first 24 h of life.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate lowest mean arterial blood pressure during the first 24 h of life (minMAP(24)) in very-low-birthweight (VLBW) infants and to identify associations between hypotension and short-term outcome.

DESIGN

Retrospective cohort analysis of the minMAP(24) of 4907 VLBW infants with a gestational age <32 weeks in correlation with clinical data. Hypotension was defined as minMAP(24) being lower than the median value of all patients of the same gestational age.

RESULTS

MinMAP(24) values correlated with gestational age. Median minMAP(24) values of VLBW infants ≤29 weeks' gestation were 1-2 mm Hg lower than gestational age in completed weeks. Hypotensive infants had a higher rate of intraventricular haemorrhage (IVH, 20.3% vs 15.9%, p<0.001), bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD, 19.2% vs 15.1%, p<0.001) and death (5.2% vs 3.0%, p<0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analyses, including potential confounders, confirmed these data. MinMAP(24) was an independent risk factor for IVH (OR 0.97/mm Hg, 95% CI 0.96 to 0.99, p=0.003), BPD (OR 0.96/mm Hg, 95% CI 0.94 to 0.98, p<0.001) and mortality (OR 0.94/mm Hg, 95% CI 0.90 to 0.98, p=0.003).

CONCLUSIONS

Hypotension during the first 24 h of life is associated with adverse outcomes in VLBW infants. This underlines the need for randomised controlled trials on the use of vasoactive drugs in this vulnerable patient cohort.