[The clinical course and one year forcast for a cohort of premature infants who were discharged with home oxygen in Bogota, Colombia].

OBJECTIVE

Documenting the clinical course and forecast for a concurrent cohort of discharged preterm infants who received home oxygen in Bogota, Colombia.

METHODS

This was a prospective study of a concurrent cohort of 194 newborn infants having 34 weeks gestational age (GA) or less at birth who were born in 12 institutions and followed up for one year of corrected age to assess mortality, morbidity, growth and development.

RESULTS

Oxygen dependency was mild in 49 infants (25.3 %) and moderate-severe in 145 of them (74.7 %). There were 3 deaths; vital status was known in 169 infants at 40 weeks GA (87.1 %) and 103 (53%) at 1 year. Breast feeding at term was successful in 147 (75.8 %) infants. Growth indices at one year were appropriate (8,991 g weight, 73 cm height and 46.2 cm head circumference) 74.1 % of the cohort were still receiving home oxygen at 40 weeks and and 22.7 % at 3 months and oxygen was discontinued on average on postnatal day 109. 56.8 % of the cohort were readmitted to hospital at least once, 47% of them because of respiratory conditions. Only 71 % had ophthalmological screening and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) was detected in 38 % of cases (4 severe cases: 3 laser surgery and 1 blind infant). Neuro-psychomotor and sensorial screening tests were only performed on 19 % of the infanys.

CONCLUSION

More than 60 % of newborn infants discharged with home oxygen lacked structured follow-up. Oxygen-dependancy in infants is complex; our data suggested that there is plenty of room for improvement in Bogotá in that respect.