Neonatal Outcome by Reason for Delivery - A Prospective, Observational Study

This is a prospective, observational study that will use information from the medical records of mothers and their newborns. This study seeks to determine the rate of Composite Neonatal Morbidity for very preterm babies delivered secondary to preterm labor (PTL) vs. prelabor rupture of membranes (PROM). Composite neonatal morbidity is defined as ≥ 1 of the following: Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS) (oxygen requirement, clinical diagnosis, and consistent chest radiograph), bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) (requirement for oxygen support at 28 days of life), severe intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) (grades III or IV), periventricular leukomalacia (PVL), blood culture-proven sepsis, necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), or perinatal death (stillbirth or death before neonatal hospital discharge.

Secondary Objectives: 1) Difference in mortality between the PTL and PROM groups, composite morbidity differences for other reasons for premature delivery, and individual morbidities including IVH, PVL, RDS, sepsis, seizures, BPD and NEC

Study Population: All babies from singleton pregnancies delivering in each of the involved hospitals who deliver at less than 32 weeks of gestation who are stillborn, who die in the delivery room and who are cared for in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) will be included.

Planned Sample Size: We plan a two year study and estimate based on historical data for the institutions to be included in the study, which should yield approximately 6000 babies less than (<) 32w0d gestation. For a 10% difference in composite morbidity (assuming 90% power and two-sided alpha=0.05) assuming a rate of 60% at least 661 patients are needed in each of the 3 groups (PTL, PROM, and other).