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Illness episodes in a cohort of preterm infants in their first year of life

Background: There is limited data available regarding the illness episodes and hospital admissions of preterm infants after initial discharge in low- and middle-income countries. Objectives: To prospectively follow a cohort of HIV unexposed preterm infants (29-34 weeks) and describe their illness ep...

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Main Author: Muller, Seth
Other Authors: Tooke, Lloyd
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Paediatrics and Child Health 2021
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access_status_str Open Access
author Muller, Seth
author2 Tooke, Lloyd
author_browse Muller, Seth
Tooke, Lloyd
author_facet Tooke, Lloyd
Muller, Seth
author_sort Muller, Seth
collection Thesis
description Background: There is limited data available regarding the illness episodes and hospital admissions of preterm infants after initial discharge in low- and middle-income countries. Objectives: To prospectively follow a cohort of HIV unexposed preterm infants (29-34 weeks) and describe their illness episodes, admissions and associated risk factors over a one-year period. Methods: The study was nested in a parent study evaluating the efficacy of a monoclonal antibody against RSV from Jan 2017 to March 2017. 53 infants were enrolled from two government neonatal nurseries in Cape Town, South Africa. Descriptive data were collected with regards to perinatal history and socioeconomic factors of the infants' household. All infants received careful follow-up. Logistic regression was performed to assess association between hospitalisation and socio-economic factors. Results: All 53 infants who were recruited were followed up over one year. There were 436 illness episodes of which 31 were hospital admissions. One infant died at home. The most common illnesses were respiratory (53%) and dermatological (17%) in nature. Lower respiratory tract infections accounted for 71% of all hospital admissions. There were no significant associations between socioeconomic subgroups when comparing illness episodes or hospital admissions. Conclusion: This is one of the few studies to record all illness episodes and not just admissions over a one-year period for HIV unexposed infants. There are high rates of intercurrent respiratory infection and hospitalisation of preterm infants in their first year of life. Public health interventions to reduce the risk of LRTI must be strengthened. Larger studies need to be done to be able to report on the associations with socioeconomic determinants in developing countries.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:33:25.185Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2021
publishDateRange 2021
publishDateSort 2021
publisher Department of Paediatrics and Child Health
publisherStr Department of Paediatrics and Child Health
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/33845 Illness episodes in a cohort of preterm infants in their first year of life Muller, Seth Tooke, Lloyd Medicine Background: There is limited data available regarding the illness episodes and hospital admissions of preterm infants after initial discharge in low- and middle-income countries. Objectives: To prospectively follow a cohort of HIV unexposed preterm infants (29-34 weeks) and describe their illness episodes, admissions and associated risk factors over a one-year period. Methods: The study was nested in a parent study evaluating the efficacy of a monoclonal antibody against RSV from Jan 2017 to March 2017. 53 infants were enrolled from two government neonatal nurseries in Cape Town, South Africa. Descriptive data were collected with regards to perinatal history and socioeconomic factors of the infants' household. All infants received careful follow-up. Logistic regression was performed to assess association between hospitalisation and socio-economic factors. Results: All 53 infants who were recruited were followed up over one year. There were 436 illness episodes of which 31 were hospital admissions. One infant died at home. The most common illnesses were respiratory (53%) and dermatological (17%) in nature. Lower respiratory tract infections accounted for 71% of all hospital admissions. There were no significant associations between socioeconomic subgroups when comparing illness episodes or hospital admissions. Conclusion: This is one of the few studies to record all illness episodes and not just admissions over a one-year period for HIV unexposed infants. There are high rates of intercurrent respiratory infection and hospitalisation of preterm infants in their first year of life. Public health interventions to reduce the risk of LRTI must be strengthened. Larger studies need to be done to be able to report on the associations with socioeconomic determinants in developing countries. 2021-09-02T07:51:59Z 2021-09-02T07:51:59Z 2021 2021-09-02T07:41:24Z Master Thesis Masters MMed http://hdl.handle.net/11427/33845 eng application/pdf Department of Paediatrics and Child Health Faculty of Health Sciences
spellingShingle Medicine
Muller, Seth
Illness episodes in a cohort of preterm infants in their first year of life
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Illness episodes in a cohort of preterm infants in their first year of life
title_full Illness episodes in a cohort of preterm infants in their first year of life
title_fullStr Illness episodes in a cohort of preterm infants in their first year of life
title_full_unstemmed Illness episodes in a cohort of preterm infants in their first year of life
title_short Illness episodes in a cohort of preterm infants in their first year of life
title_sort illness episodes in a cohort of preterm infants in their first year of life
topic Medicine
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/33845
work_keys_str_mv AT mullerseth illnessepisodesinacohortofpreterminfantsintheirfirstyearoflife