Risk factors for neonatal encephalopathy in late preterm and term singleton births in a large California birth cohort

• DOI: 10.1038/s41372-021-01242-z
• Publication Date: 2021-10-26T05:02:34Z
• Authors: Gretchen Bandoli; Denise Suttner; Elizabeth Kiernan; Rebecca J. Baer; Laura Jelliffe-Pa...; Christina D. Cham...
• Keywords: Clinical Sciences; Diseases; Gestational Age; Reproductive health and childbirth; Hypothermia; Low Birth Weight and Health of the Newborn; Cardiovascular; Pediatrics; California; Infant, Newborn, Diseases; Paediatrics and Reproductive Medicine; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Preterm; Pregnancy; Risk Factors; Infant Mortality; Humans; Aetiology; Pediatric; Brain Diseases; Biomedical and Clinical Sciences; Prevention; Infant, Newborn; Infant; Paediatrics; Perinatal Period - Conditions Originating in Perinatal Period; Newborn; 3. Good health; Good Health and Well Being; Reproductive Medicine; Premature Birth; Birth Cohort; Female; 2.4 Surveillance and distribution

The objective was to investigate maternal and pregnancy characteristics associated with neonatal encephalopathy (NE).We queried an administrative birth cohort from California between 2011 and 2017 to determine the association between each factor and NE with and without hypothermia treatment.From 3 million infants born at 35 or more weeks of gestation, 6,857 cases of NE were identified (2.3 per 1000 births), 888 (13%) received therapeutic hypothermia. Risk factors for NE were stronger among cases receiving hypothermia therapy. Substance-related diagnosis, preexisting diabetes, preeclampsia, and any maternal infection were associated with a two-fold increase in risk. Maternal overweight/obesity, nulliparity, advanced maternal age, depression, gestational diabetes or hypertension, and short or long gestations also predicted NE. Young maternal age, Asian race and Hispanic ethnicity, and cannabis-related diagnosis lowered risk of NE.By disseminating these results, we encourage further interrogation of these perinatal factors.