Original Article
Journal of Perinatology (2005) 25, 108–113. doi:10.1038/sj.jp.7211219 Published online 11 November 2004
Maternal Infection and Risk of Cerebral Palsy in Term and Preterm Infants
Michael D Neufeld MD, MPH1, Chantal Frigon MD, MS2, Alan S Graham MD3 and Beth A Mueller DrPH, MPH4
- 1Department of Pediatrics (M.D.N.), Division of Neonatology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
- 2Department of Anesthesiology (C.F.), Montreal Children's Hospital, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- 3Department of Critical Care Medicine (A.S.G.), The Doernbecher Children's Hospital, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
- 4Department of Epidemiology (B.A.M.), Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
Correspondence: Michael D. Neufeld, MD, MPH, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatology, University of Washington, 1959 NE Pacific St., Box 356320, RR546 HSB, Seattle, WA 98195-6320, USA
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
We tested the hypothesis that term and preterm infants exposed to maternal infection at the time of delivery are at increased risk of developing cerebral palsy (CP).
STUDY DESIGN:
A population-based case–control study was conducted using Washington State birth certificate data linked to hospital discharge data. Cases (688) were children 
6 years old, singleton births, hospitalized during 1987 to 1999 with an ICD-9 diagnosis code for CP. Controls were 3068 singleton birth infants randomly selected from birth records for the same years without CP-related hospitalizations. Infection information was available only for the birth hospitalization.
RESULTS:
Infants of women who had any infection during their hospitalization for delivery were at increased risk of CP (odds ratio (OR) 3.1, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.3 to 4.2). This was observed for term deliveries (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.1 to 2.8) and preterm deliveries (OR 2.3, 95% CI 1.3 to 4.2).
CONCLUSIONS:
Our results suggest that maternal infection is a risk factor for CP in both term and preterm infants.
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