Objective:

Estimate the frequency of intraventricular hemorrhage and associated factors in hospitalized preterm infants in a highly complex neonatal intensive care unit.

Methodology:

Cohort study, which included neonates younger than 37 weeks gestation, attended in a highly complex institution, between January 2015 and December 2018; The development of intraventricular hemorrhage diagnosed by imaging methods was assessed. The data was obtained from the review of the electronic medical records and sociodemographic and clinical variables were analyzed.

Results:

296 patients were included, 128 (43.2%) were women; 23 patients (7.8%) developed intraventricular hemorrhage, which predominated in the female sex (11.7%). The median gestational age was 34 weeks. The factors associated with the development of intraventricular hemorrhage were birth weight below 1500 gr, infections (p <0.0001), apnea symptoms (<0.0001), hyperglycemia (p = 0.025) and surfactant requirement (p = 0.019); meanwhile, prenatal steroids behaved as a protective factor (p = 0.002). Patients with intra-ventricular hemorrhage had a greater need for mechanical ventilation, use of inotropics or vasopressors, more transfusions, and a longer hospital stay.

Conclusions:

Despite the fact that intraventricular hemorrhage turned out to be a rare pathology in the analyzed neonatal population, there are risk factors related to its development, such as gestational age, low birth weight, infections, apneas, and hyperglycemia.

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