All issues > Volume 52(11); 2009

Original Article

Korean J Pediatr. 2009;52(11):1228-1233. Published online November 15, 2009.

The relationship between the time from arrival at a hospital to delivery and the occurrence of cerebral palsy in premature infants of less than 34 weeks of gestational age

Jae Woong JW Whang¹, A Lum AL Heo¹, Soo Hyun SH Koo¹, Hae Jung HJ Lee¹, Jun Wha JW Lee¹, Joo Seok JS Lee¹, Kyung Lae KL Cho¹

¹Department of Pediatrics, Masan Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Correspondence Kyung Lae KL Cho ,Email: pedikyung@yahoo.co.kr

Abstract

Purpose
: This study aimed to evaluate whether a shorter time from the arrival at a hospital to delivery is related to the occurrence of cerebral palsy in premature infants of less than 34 weeks of gestational age.
Methods
: We studied 142 newborns of less than 34 weeks of gestational age. The time from the arrival at the hospital to delivery was measured. The correlation between the time required for delivery and the occurrence of cerebral palsy was elucidated by diagnosing cerebral palsy in neonates using the Korean Infant Development Screening Test and neurological examination.
Results
: Preliminary result suggested that a shorter time from hospital arrival to delivery was related to a lower development score for gross motor activity and to a higher frequency of cerebral palsy occurrence. Moreover, it was responsible for a tendency of obtaining lower Apgar scores at 1 and 5 minutes. The shorter delivery time was associated with a higher probability of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) occurrence when the length of delivery time was less than 6 hours and there was a higher probability of a shorter gestation period. However, the multifactor analysis revealed that there was little impact of delivery time on the occurrence of cerebral palsy.
Conclusion
: The length of hospital arrival time to delivery did not significantly influence the occurrence of cerebral palsy in premature infants of less than 34 weeks of gestational age.

Keywords :Delivery, Cerebral palsy, Prematurity