Blood Glucose and Cerebral Tissue Oxygenation Immediately after Birth-An Observational Study.

OBJECTIVE

To assess a possible association of blood glucose concentration with cerebral regional oxygen saturation (crSO) and cerebral fractional tissue oxygen extraction (cFTOE) in neonates born at term and preterm 15 minutes after birth.

STUDY DESIGN

A post-hoc analysis of secondary outcome measures of 2 prospective observational studies was performed. Neonates born at term and preterm via cesarean delivery were included if cerebral near-infrared spectroscopy measurements were performed during the immediate transition after birth and blood glucose concentrations were measured at 15-20 minutes after birth. Arterial oxygen saturation and heart rate were measured with pulse oximetry. cFTOE was calculated from arterial oxygen saturation and crSO values. crSO and cFTOE 15 minutes after birth were correlated with blood glucose concentrations.

RESULTS

Seventy-five infants were included. In 50 neonates born at term, crSO and cFTOE 15 minutes after birth were 83 ± 7.7% and 0.14 ± 0.08, respectively. In 25 neonates born preterm, crSO and cFTOE 15 minutes after birth were 80.2 ± 12.1%, and 0.15 ± 0.1, respectively. crSO and cFTOE correlated significantly with blood glucose concentrations in neonates born at term and preterm. Increasing blood glucose concentrations were associated with decreasing crSO in neonates born at term (q = -0.35, P = .01) and neonates born preterm (q = -0.69, P = .01) and with increasing cFTOE in neonates born at term (q = 0.31, P = .03) and neonates born preterm (q = 0.67, P = .01).

CONCLUSIONS

Blood glucose concentration was associated with cerebral oxygenation during the immediate transition after birth in neonates born at term and preterm.