Risk Factors Associated with Hypother-mia Immediately after Birth among Pre-term Infants

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the distribution of initial body temperature in premature infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit and to reveal the perinatal risk factors that may affect the incidence of hypothermia immediately after birth. Methods: The subjects were 402 preterm infants born in CHA Bundang Medical Center at less than 32 weeks of gestation between January 2008 and December 2015. They were divided into two groups, the hypothermic group (body temperature <36℃) and the normothermic group (body temperature 36-37.5℃), and compared to investigate the distribution of body temperature. We also investigated perinatal characteristics associated with hypothermia at admission and 2 hours after admission. Results: The incidence of hypothermia at admission was 33.5% in all patients, 50.9% of gestational age below 28 weeks and 48.4% of birth weight less than 1,000 g. Twenty-five (6.2%) infants did not gain appropriate body temperature within two hours after birth. Logistic regression analysis results showed that low birth weight, 1 minute Apgar score of <7 and gestational diabetes were hypothermic risk factors immediately after admission. Conclusion: To prevent hypothermia at the time of admission in premature infants, more active treatment is needed to maintain body temperature from the place of delivery when gestational diabetes mellitus or Apgar score of <7 is present, in addition to low birth weight.