Abstract
OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to determine risk factors and short-term complications of high-grade intraventricular hemorrhages (IVHs) in preterm neonates. Other topics of investigation include the increase in complications of IVH with its severity and the effect of IVH risk factors on the severity of IVH. MATERIALS & METHODS: We conducted a retrospective case-control study of 436 consecutive preterm neonates with high-grade (3, 4) IVHs admitted in training hospitals of Alborz University in Karaj, Iran, from 2012 to 2017. The risk factors and short-term complications were assessed and analyzed in the subjects by SPSS 19. RESULTS: Out of 10 000 eligible neonates, we identified 1203 premature infants with IVH. A total of 436 infants with IVH grades 3 and 4 were allocated to the case group. The control group consisted of 767 infants with IVH grades 1 and 2. This study revealed that the most common risk factors of IVH include lack of corticosteroid use in 67.2%, low Apgar score in 10%, and surfactant use in 5.7% of the patients. Ten percent (31 cases) had short-term complications (18 hydrocephalus and 13 death cases). Male gender (P = .006) and lower gestational age (P = .0001) contributed to higher grades of IVH. CONCLUSION: According to the results obtained in this study, it may be concluded that the lack of corticosteroid use is the most common risk factor for IVH, and short-term complications may be seen in one-tenth of the cases.