Antenatal infection and intraventricular hemorrhage in preterm infants: A meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND

The aim of this study was to summarize current evidence evaluating the association between antenatal infection and intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) in preterm infants.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We searched for published articles on antenatal infection and IVH in 3 English (PubMed, the Cochrane Library, and EBSCO) and 3 Chinese (VEIPU, CNKI, and WANFANG) databases on May 19, 2019. In addition, the references of these articles were screened. The included studies had to meet all of the following criteria: preterm infants (<37 weeks); comparing antenatal infection with no infection; the outcomes included IVH (all grades), mild IVH, or sereve IVH; the type of study was randomized controlled trial or cohort study.

RESULTS

A total of 23 cohort studies involving 13,605 preterm infants met our inclusion criteria. Antenatal infection increased the risk of IVH (odds ratios ([OR] 2.18, 95% confidence intervals [CI] 1.58-2.99), mild IVH (OR 1.95, 95% CI 1.09-3.49) and severe IVH (OR 2.65, 95% CI 1.52-4.61). For type of antenatal infection, the ORs and 95% CI were as follows: 2.21 (1.60-3.05) for chorioamnionitis, 2.26 (1.55-3.28) for histologic chorioamnionitis, 1.88 (1.22-2.92) for clinical chorioamnionitis, and 1.88 (1.14-3.10) for ureaplasma.

CONCLUSIONS

Antenatal infection may increase the risk of developing IVH in the preterm infant. The evidence base is however of low quality and well-designed studies are needed.