Impact of Early Hemodynamic Screening on Extremely Preterm Outcomes in a High-Performance Center

Rationale: Increasing survival of extremely preterm infants with a stable rate of severe intraventricular hemorrhage represents a growing health risk for neonates. Objectives: To evaluate the role of early hemodynamic screening (HS) on the risk of death or severe intraventricular hemorrhage. Methods: All eligible patients 22-2616 weeks' gestation born and/or admitted,24 hours postnatal age were included. As compared with standard neonatal care for control subjects (January 2010-December 2017), patients admitted in the second epoch (October 2018-April 2022) were exposed to HS using targeted neonatal echocardiography at 12-18 hours. Measurements and Main Results: A primary composite outcome of death or severe intraventricular hemorrhage was decided a priori using a 10% reduction in baseline rate to calculate sample size. A total of 423 control subjects and 191 screening patients were recruited with a mean gestation and birth weight of 24.761.5weeks and 6996191 g, respectively. Infants born at 22-23weeks represented 41% (n = 78) of the HS epoch versus 32% (n = 137) of the control subjects (P = 0.004). An increase in perinatal optimization (e.g., antepartumsteroids) but with a decline in maternal health (e.g., increased obesity) was seen in the HS versus control epoch. A reduction in the primary outcome and each of severe intraventricular hemorrhage, death, death in the first postnatal week, necrotizing enterocolitis, and severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia was seen in the screening era. After adjustment for perinatal confounders and time, screening was independently associated with survival free of severe intraventricular hemorrhage (OR 2.09, 95% CI [1.19, 3.66]). Conclusions: Early HS and physiology-guided care may be an avenue to further improve neonatal outcomes; further evaluation is warranted.

Automated summary

This study evaluates the role of early hemodynamic screening in the risk of death or severe intraventricular hemorrhage in preterm infants. The findings show that screening significantly reduces the primary composite outcome of death or severe intraventricular hemorrhage, suggesting that early hemodynamic screening and tailored care may improve neonatal outcomes.