• L Sutton, G P Sayer, B Bajuk, V Richardson, G Berry, and D J Henderson-Smart.
• New South Wales Neonatal Intensive Care Units' Data Collection (NICUS), University of New South Wales, Australia. lee.sutton@perinatal.usyd.edu.au
• Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 2001 Oct 1;80(10):917-25.

Aims1. Ascertain antenatal and intrapartum risk factors for term neonates ventilated primarily for respiratory problems. 2. Describe the neonatal morbidity and mortality.MethodsPopulation-based case control cohort study.SettingSydney and four large rural/urban Health Areas in New South Wales, 1996.SubjectsSingleton term infants, no major congenital anomaly: subset of 99 infants ventilated primarily for respiratory problems from 182 cases admitted to a tertiary neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for mechanical ventilation, and 550 randomly selected controls.OutcomeRisk factors for case status by maternal, antenatal, labor, delivery, and combined epochs, adjusted Odds Ratios (OR), 95 per cent Confidence Intervals (CI), p<0.05.ResultsPredictors of case status by multivariate epochs: mother's age > or =35 years (1.9 (1.1, 3.2) p=0.03), primigravida (1.8 (1.1, 2.8) p=0.01), any antenatal complication (3.8 (2.4, 5.9) p=0.0001), birth weight < 3rd percentile (3.7 (1.5, 9.1) p=0.006), gestational diabetes (2.9 (1.3, 6.9) p=0.01), maternal pyrexia (6.5 (1.6, 27.2) p=0.01), birth weight >90th percentile (1.8 (1.01, 3.2) p=0.047), gestation 37-38 weeks (2.3 (1.5, 3.6) p=0.0004), forceps (4.4 (2.1, 9.1) p=0.0001), elective cesarean section (3.7 (2.0, 6.5) p=0.0001), emergency cesarean section (4.5 (2.4, 8.4) p=0.0001). Case mortality rate was 5 per cent.ConclusionThe pathways to neonatal respiratory morbidity in term infants are multifactorial. Several areas which warrant more in-depth study are: elective cesarean section at 37-38 weeks gestation, fetal growth restriction, macrosomia and the pattern of in-utero growth, maternal weight gain during pregnancy, gestational diabetes, pyrexia in labor and the role of chorioamnionitis.

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