What is preterm birth & its implications on the newborn? - Dr. Achi Ashok

Описание: Normal pregnancy usually last for 40 weeks. Pre term birth or pre mature birth is the birth of the baby at less than 37 weeks of pregnancy. Pre term birth is the leading cause of newborn death. Advances in the neonatal care treatment for pre term babies have greatly increased the chances for the survival of the smallest babies. The earlier the baby is born the higher the risk of complications. Birth weight also plays an important role. The only outcome measure babies born before 37 weeks of pregnancy are still vulnerable to increase the risk and to many short term and long term affects. Preterm babies suffer serious health problems like breathing difficulties, feeding difficulties, jaundice and affect on the brain functions. Preterm babies often require special care in the neonatal intensive care unit. They may require longer stay in the intensive care unit. Most babies have mature lungs by 36 weeks of pregnancy. Hence serious breathing problems are frequent in preterm babies and may require ventilator support. Preterm babies may develop what is called respiratory distress syndrome. In this harsh irregular breathing due to the lack of a specific agent in the lung called surfactant that helps preventing lungs from collapsing. Steroids given before delivery may to some extent help to avoid respiratory distress syndrome. But after delivery the injection called surfactants can be given to these preterm babies. These babies can develop pneumonia. Pneumonia is a bacterial infection which is treated by antibiotics. Preterm babies are very much vulnerable for infection because they may not be able to resist infection due to under developed immune system. Infection easily spreads to the blood stream and these babies are also vulnerable for sepsis. Preterm babies also develop jaundice. Jaundice is a condition where there is yellowish discolouration of the skin and the eyes and these can be treated with phototherapy. Babies born sooner than 34 weeks have increased risk of bleeding in the brain. This is called intraventricular haemorrhage. These intraventricular haemorrhage happens because the blood vessels in these babies are very immature and they cannot tolerate the change in circulation. Preterm babies are more likely to have immature gastro intestinal system leaving predisposed complications such as necrotising enterocolitis. In this case the cells lining the bowel are injured and this is a very serious complication. The most common duct problem that can occur are patent ductus arteriosus and low blood pressure. Patent ductus arteriosus is a persistent opening between the major vessel leading from the heart. If not treated it leads to heart failure. Preterm babies are more likely to lag behind on their full term counterpart on various developmental mile stones. Long-term implications includes cerebral palsy, mental retardation, visual and hearing impairments.