Neonatal short-term outcomes in infants with intrauterine growth restriction

OBJECTIVES: To assess the neonatal outcomes in newborns with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) in a Romanian population in a 3 level maternity unit. METHODS: A matched case-control design, with one control for each patient was used. The case group comprised neonates with birth weight and birth length below the 10th percentile for the gestational age. Individual matching by gender and age of gestation was used to identify the control group. Both cases and controls were selected from the infants admitted to and discharged from the Neonatal Ward, at the First Gynecology Clinic, of the County Emergency Hospital Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, between January 2012 and June 2014. RESULTS: One hundred and forty-two subjects were included in each group. The cesarean delivery was significantly more frequent in the IUGR group (66.9%) compared with controls (46.5%; p=0.0006). The Apgar score at one minute was ≥7 for most infants in both groups (77.9% IUGR group versus 77.5% control group), with no significant differences between the groups. A significantly higher percentage of infants in the IUGR group had hypoglycemia or intraventricular hemorrhage compared with the controls (p<0.05). Hypoglycemia proved a significant factor for IUGR (odds ratio = 4.763, 95% confidence interval: 1.711-13.255). CONCLUSION: Hypoglycemia and intraventricular hemorrhage characterized the IUGR newborns.