Trends of care patterns and outcomes of very low birth weight infants (≤1500 g) born after 27 weeks of gestation in South Wales, UK.

OBJECTIVE

To analyse trends of outcomes of very low birth weight (VLBW) infants born after 27 weeks of gestation over 15 years in South Wales, UK.

STUDY

DESIGN

Trends of clinical outcomes were analysed by deriving multivariable logistic regression models and presented as odds ratios (aOR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). A p-value of <0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.

RESULTS

Between 2007 and 2021, 2321 infants were included in the cohort. There was a decline in the incidence of mortality (aOR 0.941; 95% CI 0.895, 0.988), severe brain injury (0.937; 0.893, 0.982), necrotising enterocolitis (0.911; 0.862, 0.964) and sepsis (0.949; 0.920, 0.978). At birth, odds of mechanical ventilation (0.909; 0.888, 0.930) & receipt of surfactant (0.920; 0.899, 0.942), and mechanical ventilation after admission (0.940; 0.919, 0.961) were significantly reduced. Analysis of a subgroup of 1797 preterm infants born before 32 weeks suggested significant improvement in all major outcomes studied.

DISCUSSION: Trends of care patterns and outcomes improved over time in this cohort of VLBW infants in South Wales, especially preterm infants below 32 weeks of gestation.