Maternal hypertension and neurodevelopmental outcome in very preterm infants
a Department of Neonatology,
Mater Misericordiae Hospitals, Raymond Terrace
South Brisbane, Queensland 4101, Australia, b Growth and Development
Clinic, c Mater Perinatal Epidemiology Unit
Correspondence to: Dr P H Gray.
Accepted 16 February 1998
AIM
To determine the outcome of preterm infants
born to mothers with hypertension during pregnancy, and preterm controls.
METHODS107 infants of 24-32 weeks gestation,
born to hypertensive mothers, and 107 controls matched for gestational
age, sex, and multiple pregnancy, born to normotensive mothers, were
prospectively enrolled over 2 years. Information on maternal
complications and medication was obtained and neonatal mortality and
morbidities recorded. Survivors were followed up to at least 2 years,
corrected for prematurity.
RESULTSOne third of the hypertensive mothers were
treated with antihypertensive drugs, while 18% received convulsion
prophylaxis with phenytoin. Magnesium sulphate was not prescribed. Both
groups had a mean gestational age of 29.9 weeks, with the study infants having a significantly lower birthweight than the controls. Four study
and three control infants died in the neonatal period. Cerebral palsy
was not diagnosed in any infant of a hypertensive mother compared with
five of the controls. The mean general quotient for the two groups was
very similar and no difference in the incidence of minor neuromotor
developmental problems was shown.
CONCLUSIONSMaternal
hypertension seems to protect against cerebral palsy in preterm infants
without increasing the risk of cognitive impairment. This was
independent of the use of maternally administered magnesium sulphate.
© 1998 by Archives of Disease in Childhood
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- Citation Map
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in ADC Online
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
