Neontal Intensive Care Unit Hospitalization of Very Low Birth Weight Japanese Infants with Congenital Heart Disease.

Abstract

The lack of study regarding the duration of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) hospitalization of very lowbirth weight (VLBW) infants (< 1500g) with congenital heart disease (CHD) necessitated this study.Retrospective data of all infants weighing <1500 g with a gestational age (GA) < 37 weeks at birth wereobtained from the NICU of Tokyo Metropolitan Hachioji Children’s Hospital in Tokyo, from January, 1997to December, 2001. Of 1515 admissions, 189 (12.5%) weighed <1500 g at birth, with weight ranging from377 g to 1496 g (mean 1060.6 g, 283.3 SD). CHD was diagnosed in 20 (10.6%) of infants. The male to femaleratio was 1:1.5. In CHD patients, birth weight ranged from 554 g to 1473 g (mean 1029.8 g, 243.5 SD), GAranged from 24 to 36 weeks (mean 29.4, 3.5 SD) and the length of hospitalization ranged from 3 to 154 days(mean 74.6 days, 43.8 SD; median 68 days). Patent ductus arteriosus was diagnosed in all infants with GA<27 weeks. Three infants (16.7%) with CHD died in NICU. Establishment of the mean duration of NICUhospitalization in CHD infants may help to improve the planning and management of resources requiredfor NICU care and counseling of parents.Key Words: Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) hospitalization, congenital heart disease (CHD), Japan