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BACKGROUND: Knowledge on short-term outcomes of preterm infants is important for quality control. Our objective was to analyze the outcomes of very low birth weight infants admitted to our neonatal intensive care unit over a ten years' period and to compare the results with internationally published data. METHODS: We analyzed the outcome measures for all live born infants with birth weight (BW) of 400–1500 grams and gestational age (GA) of 23–32 weeks born at King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre between 2006 and 2015. Results were compared to data from four international neonatal networks. RESULTS: During the study period, we admitted 528 infants born at a gestational age of≥23 and≤32 weeks with a very low birth weight (VLBW) of 400–1500 grams. Mean (SD) GA was 28 (2.4) weeks and mean (SD) BW was 1007 (290) grams. A hundred and twenty-nine (24.4%) infants were small for gestational age and major congenital anomalies were present in 56 (10.6 %) infants. The rate of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) was 24.4 %, necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) 9.1%, patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) 29.9%, severe intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH)10.8 %, periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) 5.7%, severe retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) 8%, and late-onset sepsis was 18.8%. The incidences of major neonatal outcomes such as CLD, NEC, severe IVH and severe ROP were comparable to the international cohorts. CONCLUSION: In our population of preterm infants, survival rates and complications of prematurity were comparable to international data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Emollient therapy is used frequently to prevent nosocomial infection in the management of preterm infants, despite a lack of adequate evidence of its efficacy. Objective: To assess the efficacy of prophylactic whole-body application of pure preservative-free topical petroleum jelly on the incidence of nosocomial sepsis in very low-birthweight (VLBW) infants. Study design: A prospective, randomised controlled trial of the application of topical petroleum jelly was conducted. Infants weighing <1250 g at birth and with a gestational age of ≤32 weeks were included. The intervention group received twice-daily topical therapy of 2 g/kg pure, preservative-free topical petroleum jelly until the completion of 34 weeks of gestation. The control group received no topical petroleum jelly treatment. The primary outcome was the incidence of late-onset sepsis during hospitalisation. Other data collected included the pattern of temperature control, weight changes, fluid requirements, serum bilirubin level, electrolyte imbalance and skin condition. Results: Thirty-five infants in the intervention group and 39 in the control group were recruited. Birthweight, gestational age, gender and perinatal variables were comparable in the two groups. There was a trend towards an increased incidence of culture-proven nosocomial sepsis in the intervention group – 19 episodes (54%) in the intervention group vs 16 (41%) in the control group, and an increased rate of NEC – 20% in the intervention group vs 8% in the control group. The intervention group had better skin condition throughout their stay and the incubator ambient temperature was lower in the intervention group in the 1st week of life. The fluid balance of the infants in the intervention group was better, as reflected by their mean (SD) shorter time to regain birthweight [12 (5) vs 14 (6) days], and there were fewer episodes of hypernatraemia in the 1st week of life, although none of these reached statistical significance. However, there was a significantly lower mean (SD) level of maximum hyperbilirubinaemia [157 (40) vs 182 (46) mmol/L, P = 0·02) in the intervention group. Conclusion: Although prophylactic topical application of pure, preservative-free petroleum jelly brought substantial improvement of skin condition and temperature control, it was associated with a trend towards an increased rate of nosocomial sepsis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]