Infection factors associated with neurodysplasia in early and moderately preterm infants

Abstract

To investigate the infection factors associated with neurodysplasia in early and moderately preterm infants at a corrected age of 18 months. The preterm infants with a gestational age of 28 weeks to <34 weeks who were admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit and followed up at the outpatient service for high-risk preterm infants from June 2015 to December 2018 were enrolled as subjects. At a corrected age of 18 months, the revised Bayley Scales of Infant Development was used to evaluate neurodevelopment. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to investigate the infection factors affecting neurodevelopment. A total of 138 early or moderately preterm infants were enrolled, among whom 59 had neurodysplasia at a corrected age of 18 months. The univariate logistic regression analysis showed that neurodysplasia was associated with late-onset infection, positive blood culture, and other systemic infections (P<0.05). The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that late-onset infection was an independent risk factor for neurodysplasia (OR=1.510, 95%CI: 1.133-3.600, P<0.05). Late-onset infection can increase the risk of neurodysplasia in early and moderately preterm infants.