Neonatal morbidity after documented fetal lung maturity

January 01, 0001

Neonatal morbidity after documented fetal lung maturity

Fetal lung maturity often is used as the sole criterion that late preterm infants are ready for postnatal life. These US authors therefore tested the hypothesis that fetal lung maturity testing does not predict the absence of morbidity in late preterm infants. They performed a retrospective cohort study to examine 152 infants who were born in the late preterm (34 0/7 to 36 6/7 weeks) and early term (37 0/7 to 38 6/7 weeks) periods after mature fetal lung indices and compared them with 262 infants who were born at least 39 weeks' gestation and who were matched by mode of delivery.

They found: "Despite documented fetal lung maturity, infants who were born at less than 39 weeks had significantly higher rates of neonatal morbidities compared with infants who were born at 39 or more weeks' gestation. After adjustment for significant covariates, we found that infants who were born at less than 39 weeks' gestation had an increased risk of composite adverse outcome (odds ratio, 3.66)."

The authors concluded: "Fetal lung maturity testing is insufficient to determine an infant's readiness for postnatal life."

Delivery before 39 weeks gestation should be avoided if possible.


For the full abstract, click here.

Am J Obstet Gynecol 204(6):518.e1-518.e8, June 2011 © 2011 to Mosby, Inc.
Neonatal morbidity after documented fetal lung maturity in late preterm and early term infants. Beena D. Kamath, Michael P. Marcotte, Emily A. DeFranco. Correspondence to Dr. Kamath: [email protected]

Category: W. Pregnancy, Family Planning. Keywords: amniocentesis, fetal lung maturity, late preterm infant, neonatal outcome, retrospective cohort study, journal watch.
Synopsis edited by Dr Linda French, Toledo, Ohio. Posted on Global Family Doctor 5 July 2011

Pearls are an independent product of the Cochrane primary care group and are meant for educational use and not to guide clinical care.

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