Dysmaturity

Abstract

In this paper a distinction is made between dysmaturity, in contrast to post-maturity, to designate the manifestations of newborn infants with dry scaly skin, long nails, paucity of amniotic fluid, and the presence of meconium in the amniotic fluid. The term post-maturity is avoided because some authors use it to designate prolonged pregnancies and others to denote dysmaturity, and by still others to promote the concept of an association between prolonged pregnancy and dysmaturity. It is now generally believed that these manifestations in newborn infants are the result of placental dysfunction or insufficiency. The authors' investigation is based on observations pertaining to 1,171 newborn infants during a 15-month period. When the diagnosis was based on the mildest manifestations suggestive of dysmaturity, the incidence in this series was 16.7%. When less equivocal manifestations were used for the diagnosis, the incidence was only 1.8%. Although it was found that there is increased frequency of dysmaturity with increasing gestation time, most of the infants with moderately severe manifestations of dysmaturity were born within 294 days. A number of other observations were made in an effort to correlate the manifestations of dysmaturity with other factors in the pregnancy and in the infant. It was concluded that the manifestations of dysmaturity in an infant are not due to the prolongation of pregnancy per se.