Antenatal infection: adequate protection against hyaline membrane disease?

It has been argued that fetal and placental infections decrease the incidence of hyaline membrane disease (HMD). However, others contend that this is not so. We performed a rigidly controlled clinicopathologic investigation of one group of infants with evidence of severe antenatal infection compared with another group free of infection. This study shows that placental infection correlated positively with neonatal sepsis and that in this series of patients neither infection nor prolonged rupture of membranes is associated with a decrease of HMD. Our data do not support the proposal that antenatal infections protect the neonate against later development of HMD.