Abstract
Background: The incidence of perinatal arterial stroke (PAS) is about 1 in 2300 live births. Evidence about the aetiology is still lacking. The aim of this study was to identify maternal, perinatal and neonatal factors predictive of symptomatic PAS in full-term infants.
Methods: Each full-term infant with PAS was matched to three healthy controls for gestational age (< 7 days), date (< 7 days) and hospital of birth. Ante- and perinatal risk factors were studied using univariate and multivariate conditional logistic regression analysis.
Results: Fifty-four infants were diagnosed with PAS. Primipara (65% vs 46%), maternal fever (> 38 °C) (9% vs 1%), fetal heart rate decelerations (63% vs 15%), emergency caesarean section (33 vs 2%), Apgar Score (1 min) ≤ 3 (28% vs 1%), Apgar Score (5 min) < 7 (24% vs 1%), umbilical artery pH < 7.0 (21% vs 2%), hypoglycaemia < 2.0 mmol/L (28% vs 3%) and early onset sepsis/meningitis (13% vs 2%) were significant risk factors in the univariate analysis.
In the multivariate analysis maternal fever (OR 11.0; 95% CI 1.4 - 85.6), Apgar Score (5 min) < 7 (OR 17.1; 95% CI 3.0 - 96.8), hypoglycaemia < 2.0 mmol/L (OR 13.8; 95% CI 3.4 - 54.2) and early onset sepsis/meningitis (OR 7.0; 95% CI 1.4 - 35.5) were significantly associated with PAS.
Conclusion: Fetal distress, maternal fever during delivery and early onset sepsis/meningitis were associated with PAS similar to previous studies. Hypoglycaemia was also associated with PAS, which was previously noted in the preterm infant.
Article PDF
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Harteman, J., Benders, M., Kwee, A. et al. Hypoxia-Ischemia and Infection Associated with Symptomatic Perinatal Arterial Stroke in Full-Term Infants. Pediatr Res 70 (Suppl 5), 176 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/pr.2011.401
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/pr.2011.401