Outcome of infants delivered between 24 and 28 weeks' gestation in women with severe pre-eclampsia.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether there are differences in neonatal outcome between infants born to mothers with severe pre-eclampsia and those born to normotensive mothers with preterm labor and intact membranes between 24 and 28 weeks' gestation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Over a 4-year period between 1991 and 1995, neonates of women with severe pre-eclampsia delivering between 24 and 28 weeks were matched for maternal age, antenatally assigned gestational age and mode of delivery to normotensive women delivering during the same period. RESULTS: Fifty-eight women with severe pre-eclampsia were matched to 58 normotensive controls who delivered as a result of preterm labor. Antenatal steroids were used more often in pre-eclamptic women (75% vs. 47%, p < 0.01). The mean birth weight of pre-eclamptic neonates was significantly lower than that of controls, 767 g vs. 989 g, respectively. Other neonatal complications were similar for both groups. Neonates of pre-eclamptics required longer ventilator support (21 vs. 16 median days, p = 0.03). Neonatal survival was similar for both groups (72% and 79% for pre-eclamptics and normotensives, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Neonates born to patients with severe pre-eclampsia have similar survival but a lower birth weight and require longer ventilator support than neonates born to women with preterm labor.

Duke Scholars

Author Haywood Laverne Brown Obstetrics and Gynecology, Maternal Fetal Medicine