Preterm infants born to women who had an elevated prepregnancy body mass index appear to be at increased risk of germinal matrix hemorrhage

Alan Leviton; Marcello Pagano; Karl C K Kuban; Terence Fenton; Mildred Wolff; Ruth Strassfeld

doi:10.1002/ajhb.1310040502

Preterm infants born to women who had an elevated prepregnancy body mass index appear to be at increased risk of germinal matrix hemorrhage

Am J Hum Biol. 1992;4(5):567-572. doi: 10.1002/ajhb.1310040502.

Authors

Alan Leviton^{1

2}, Marcello Pagano³, Karl C K Kuban^{1

2}, Terence Fenton³, Mildred Wolff¹, Ruth Strassfeld¹

Affiliations

¹ Neuroepidemiology Unit, Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.
² Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.
³ Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.

PMID: 28524596
DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.1310040502

Abstract

In a sample of 449 infants of birthweight ≤ 1.5 kg, the risk of germinal matrix hemorrhage increased monotonically with increases in maternal body mass index (BMI, wt/ht² ). This relationship was repeated in many strata of the sample, including those defined by the occurrence of labor, maternal preeclampsia, route of delivery, intubation of the baby and acidosis, as well as strata defined by birthweight and gestational age. Even though the dose-response relationship is prominent, caution is advised in drawing inferences from these findings until confirmation is provided that preterm infants born to mothers of high BMI are at increased risk of germinal matrix hemorrhage. © 1992 Wiley-Liss, Inc.