Background and objective: Published data on short-term outcomes of very low birth weight infants from Saudi Arabia are limited. In the present study, our objective was to describe and analyze the outcomes of very low birth weight infants admitted to our neonatal intensive care unit and to compare the results with data published by the National Institute of Child Health and Development.
Design and setting: This study was a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data from a single tertiary care center over a three years period.
Patients and methods: Biodemographic data and data regarding multiple outcome measures were analyzed for infants with birth weight of 1500 g or less. Data were obtained from our neonatal intensive care unit database.
Results: Our results included a total of 186 infants with birth weights of 1500 g or less. Of these infants, 154 (82.8%) survived to discharge. Seventy-six (40.9%) were male, and mean (SD) gestational age (GA) was 29 (2.9) weeks with a range of 21 weeks, 6 days to 36 weeks, 2 days. Mean (SD) birth weight was 1062 (302) g with a range of 420 to 1495 g. Fifty-seven (30.6%) infants were characterized as small for gestational age. Antenatal steroids were given to 74.2% of mothers. Eighty-five percent of infants were born by cesarean section. The rate of bronchopulmonary dysplasia was 17.7%, patent ductus arteriosus 31.2%, intraventricular hemorrhage 12.9%, periventricular leukomalacia 3.8%, necrotizing enterocolitis 7.5%, retinopathy of prematurity 28.3%, and late-onset sepsis was 21.9%.
Conclusion: In this population of very low birth weight infants, survival rates and complications of prematurity were comparable to international data.