近日，英国伦敦帝国理工学院Chris Gale及其课题组研究了超早产儿在非三级医院分娩和出生后，早期转院与死亡率和严重脑损伤的关系。这一研究成果2019年10月16日在线发表在《英国医学期刊》上。

研究组分析了英国国家新生儿研究数据库中2008年至2015年间的人口数据，共有17577名小于28周的超早产婴儿出生，按出生医院和出生后48小时内转院分组：向上转院组2158例，由非三级转至三级医院；非三级护理组2668例，在非三级医院出生且未转院；对照组10866例，在三级医院出生且未转院；水平转院组305例，在三级医院之间互转。对这些婴儿进行倾向性评分匹配，以消除一般资料的差异影响。

与对照组相比，向上转院组婴儿出院前的死亡率相差不大，但严重脑损伤的几率显著增加，无严重脑损伤的存活率显著降低。非三级护理组婴儿死亡率显著高于对照组，但严重脑损伤或无严重脑损伤的存活率相差不大。与向上转院组相比，非三级护理组的婴儿出院前的死亡率相差不大，但严重脑损伤的发生率显著降低，无严重脑损伤的存活率显著增加。水平转院组和对照组的预后无显著差异。

总之，超早产婴儿在非三级医院分娩和48小时内转院与在三级医院分娩相比预后较差。研究组建议提供围产期服务，尽量使超早产婴儿在三级医院分娩，而不是产后再转院。

附：英文原文

Title: Association of early postnatal transfer and birth outside a tertiary hospital with mortality and severe brain injury in extremely preterm infants: observational cohort study with propensity score matching

Author: Kjell Helenius, Nicholas Longford, Liisa Lehtonen, Neena Modi, Chris Gale

Issue&Volume: 2019/10/16

Abstract: 

Objective To determine if postnatal transfer or birth in a non-tertiary hospital is associated with adverse outcomes.

Design Observational cohort study with propensity score matching.

Setting National health service neonatal care in England; population data held in the National Neonatal Research Database.

Participants Extremely preterm infants born at less than 28 gestational weeks between 2008 and 2015 (n=17 577) grouped based on birth hospital and transfer within 48 hours of birth: upward transfer (non-tertiary to tertiary hospital, n=2158), non-tertiary care (born in non-tertiary hospital; not transferred, n=2668), and controls (born in tertiary hospital; not transferred, n=10 866). Infants were matched on propensity scores and predefined background variables to form subgroups with near identical distributions of confounders. Infants transferred between tertiary hospitals (horizontal transfer) were separately matched to controls in a 1:5 ratio.

Main outcome measures Death, severe brain injury, and survival without severe brain injury.

Results 2181 infants, 727 from each group (upward transfer, non-tertiary care, and control) were well matched. Compared with controls, infants in the upward transfer group had no significant difference in the odds of death before discharge (odds ratio 1.22, 95% confidence interval 0.92 to 1.61) but significantly higher odds of severe brain injury (2.32, 1.78 to 3.06; number needed to treat (NNT) 8) and significantly lower odds of survival without severe brain injury (0.60, 0.47 to 0.76; NNT 9). Compared with controls, infants in the non-tertiary care group had significantly higher odds of death (1.34, 1.02 to 1.77; NNT 20) but no significant difference in the odds of severe brain injury (0.95, 0.70 to 1.30) or survival without severe brain injury (0.82, 0.64 to 1.05). Compared with infants in the upward transfer group, infants in the non-tertiary care group had no significant difference in death before discharge (1.10, 0.84 to 1.44) but significantly lower odds of severe brain injury (0.41, 0.31 to 0.53; NNT 8) and significantly higher odds of survival without severe brain injury (1.37, 1.09 to 1.73; NNT 14). No significant differences were found in outcomes between the horizontal transfer group (n=305) and controls (n=1525).

Conclusions In extremely preterm infants, birth in a non-tertiary hospital and transfer within 48 hours are associated with poor outcomes when compared with birth in a tertiary setting. We recommend perinatal services promote pathways that facilitate delivery of extremely preterm infants in tertiary hospitals in preference to postnatal transfer.

DOI: 10.1136/bmj.l5678

Source: https://www.bmj.com/content/367/bmj.l5678