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Risk factors for neonatal encephalopathy in late preterm and term singleton births in a large California birth cohort

Journal of Perinatology volume 42, pages 341–347 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective

The objective was to investigate maternal and pregnancy characteristics associated with neonatal encephalopathy (NE).

Study design

We queried an administrative birth cohort from California between 2011 and 2017 to determine the association between each factor and NE with and without hypothermia treatment.

Results

From 3 million infants born at 35 or more weeks of gestation, 6,857 cases of NE were identified (2.3 per 1000 births), 888 (13%) received therapeutic hypothermia. Risk factors for NE were stronger among cases receiving hypothermia therapy. Substance-related diagnosis, preexisting diabetes, preeclampsia, and any maternal infection were associated with a two-fold increase in risk. Maternal overweight/obesity, nulliparity, advanced maternal age, depression, gestational diabetes or hypertension, and short or long gestations also predicted NE. Young maternal age, Asian race and Hispanic ethnicity, and cannabis-related diagnosis lowered risk of NE.

Conclusions

By disseminating these results, we encourage further interrogation of these perinatal factors.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Joe Gleeson, MD for his valuable comments on the project. This analysis was funded by the San Diego Study of Mothers and Infants at the University of California San Diego and the Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine. Gretchen Bandoli is funded by a NIH award (1 K01 AA027811-01). No funders/sponsors participated in this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla California, San Diego, USA

    Gretchen Bandoli, Denise Suttner, Elizabeth Kiernan, Rebecca J. Baer & Christina D. Chambers

  2. Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego, CA, USA

    Denise Suttner

  3. Preterm Birth Initiative, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, USA

    Rebecca J. Baer & Laura Jelliffe-Pawlowski

Authors
  1. Gretchen Bandoli
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  2. Denise Suttner
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  3. Elizabeth Kiernan
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  4. Rebecca J. Baer
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  5. Laura Jelliffe-Pawlowski
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  6. Christina D. Chambers
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Contributions

Bandoli conceptualized the design and analysis for the study, performed the analysis, drafted and revised the paper. Suttner and Chambers conceptualized the design and analysis for the study, drafted and revised the paper. Kiernan coordinated the literature review, contributed to the drafting and revision of the paper. Baer managed the database for the study, cleaned and prepared data for the analysis, and contributed to the drafting and revision of the paper. Jelliffe-Pawlowski assisted in conceptualizing the parent study, and critically reviewed and revised the paper.

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Correspondence to Gretchen Bandoli.

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Bandoli, G., Suttner, D., Kiernan, E. et al. Risk factors for neonatal encephalopathy in late preterm and term singleton births in a large California birth cohort. J Perinatol 42, 341–347 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-021-01242-z

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