The First Sixty Minutes in Preterm Neonates’ Life: Predicted Morbidities and Interventions

Abstract

Preterm neonates are more vulnerable to many diseases and complications than full-term infants as most of their biological systems are still underdeveloped. Fortunately, most of these morbidities are preventable as there are many interventions that could be performed in the first 60 minutes of neonatal life to avoid them and their long-term consequences, thus rightfully defining 'the golden hour'. The objective of this article is to review the potential morbidities that neonates might experience and understand their mechanisms, risk factors and its possible outcomes. We also reviewed the possible actions that could be implemented during the golden hour to prevent these morbidities and investigated their effectiveness. Medline and Cochrane database for systematic review were the main two electronic database that we used to search for studies. Studies pertaining to morbidities, such as hypothermia, hypoglycemia, respiratory distress, intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH), Chronic lung disease (CLD) and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) have been selected according to their full text accessibility for us. Reports related to possible interventions that could be performed to prevent these morbidities have also been involved that include but not only restricted to drying & head coverings, polyethylene occlusive skin wraps, ambient room temperature, pre-warmed incubator, heated humidified gases, heated mattress and skin-to-skin contact for hypothermia; dextrose infusion pump, dextrose burette and oral dextrose for hypoglycemia; indomethacin, ibuprofen, antithrombin and heparin for IVH; surfactant and CPAP for respiratory distress; controlling oxygen saturation for ROP. Keywords: The First Sixty Minutes in Preterm Neonates' Life: Predicted Morbidities and Interventions 2/8Copyright: ©2018 El-Atawi et al. the relation between severe hypothermia (<32°C) and shortand long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes are required. Moderate hypothermia was found to be associated with severe intraventricular hemorrhage, intraventricular leukomalacia, and necrotizing enterocolitis. Yet, these associations should be analyzed carefully since they were based on studies with a wide confidence interval. More studies with larger sample size are warranted to accurately illustrate these associations [5]. Moreover, hypothermia increases oxygen consumption, thus leading to hypoxia and subsequently pulmonary vasoconstriction which, in turn, declines surfactant production and worsens respiratory distress. The presence of comorbidities with hypothermia increases the fatality rate, so adding a higher category to the severity of hypothermia would represent an effective addition to the WHO classification of the severity of hypothermia [8].Large surface area of neonates in relation to their small body weight makes them more vulnerable to hypothermia than fullterm babies. Preterm neonates have a higher transepidermal water loss than term due to their immature epidermal layer [9]. Their premature vasomotor control which acts as a thermoregulatory mec...