Aim: Early sudden unexpected death in infancy (ESUDI) is a rare cause of death occurring in newborns during the first hours of life. Our aim was to find additional data for the identification of risk factors and establishment of prevention strategies. Methods:We describe three cases of ESUDI and give an overview of the literature. Results: ESUDI was observed in term babies with normal birth weight after good postnatal adaptation within the first four hours of life. Maternal age was between 29 and 36 years, mothers were primiparous and of normal weight. All three events occurred during unobserved early skin-to-skin contact. Autopsy and post-mortem metabolic screening revealed no cause of death. A search of the MEDLINE and Web of Science (Thomson Reuters) databases brought to light 132 cases of ESUDI reported in the literature from 1985 to 2012. Concurrent with our observations, first parity and unobserved early skin-toskin contact seem to be prime predictors of ESUDI. Other pre-described risk factors such as mode of delivery, birth weight, mother's age and body mass index were not seen in our patients. Conclusion:Close observation during the first hours of life is essential and can be life-saving, especially during early skin-to-skin contact.

More than a third of the very preterm children we tested showed reduced processing speed at 5 years of age, and predictors were typical complications of prematurity and smoking in pregnancy.

Because the CCP contributes to a better weight gain in VLBW infants due to simplification of PN calculation, we suggest its use in the calculation of PN in VLBW infants.

The aim of the study was to investigate the frequency of and the predictors for rehospitalization in preterm infants into early childhood, focusing on gender differences. All preterm infants born at <32 weeks of gestation in North Tyrol between January 2003 and December 2005 were enrolled in this survey. About one fifth of all children were readmitted, showing an inverse downward trend with increasing age. The most common reason for readmission in the third (36.5%) and fourth (42.9%) years of life was respiratory infection, but changed to miscellaneous surgeries in the fifth (52.1%). Male sex showed significantly higher readmission rates and more miscellaneous surgeries. Additionally, male sex and chronic lung disease were risk conditions for rehospitalization in the multivariate analysis. Readmission rates and respiratory infections in preterm-born children showed an inverse downward trend with increasing age. In early childhood, gender difference still plays a role with regard to rehospitalization.