Original ArticlesChorioamnionitis and the prognosis for term infants
Section snippets
Materials and methods
Between January 1, 1988 and December 31, 1997, all live-born infants who weighed at least 2500 g at Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dallas, Texas, were entered in a computerized database. Delivery events were recorded by attending nurses, and data sheets were checked for accuracy by research nurses. Infant outcomes were abstracted from the newborn discharge records by research nurses, and the results were linked electronically to the maternal outcomes. This study was limited to women with singleton
Results
A total of 101,170 singleton pregnancies with infants who weighed at least 2500 g met the inclusion criteria for analysis. Chorioamnionitis was diagnosed in 5144 (5%) of theses pregnancies. Table 1 summarizes selected maternal demographic and pregnancy characteristics in women with and without chorioamnionitis. Chorioamnionitis was significantly increased in women who were younger, nulliparous, or Hispanic. Similarly, chorioamnionitis was significantly associated with intrapartum hypertension
Discussion
The results of this analysis of more than 100,000 term pregnancies suggest that chorioamnionitis in mothers during labor is associated with adverse infant outcomes. Resuscitation at birth, indicated by intubation in the delivery room, was required in almost 2% of chorioamnionitis infants. Nearly every measure of compromised infant condition at birth was increased in association with maternal infection during labor. The infants also experienced morbidity after their arrival in the nursery, with
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