View clinical trials related to Premature Birth.
Filter by:Prematurity is the leading cause of neonatal morbidity causing more than 1 million deaths worldwide per year. In 2012, a randomized controlled trial (RCT) testing "pessary" (silicone ring placed around the cervix) versus "no pessary" in patients with a short cervix showed a 4-fold reduction in the rate of spontaneous prematurity <34 weeks of gestation and a reduction in perinatal morbidity and mortality. This result was not found in a subsequent RCT and another study on the subject had to be stopped in the face of slow recruitment. Currently, the obstetric scientific community believes that other RCTs are needed before using the pessary in the clinic as a therapeutic option to prevent prematurity in the presence of a short cervix. However, before starting a large RCT, it is important to test the feasibility of recruitment.
This study evaluates the effectiveness of prenatal counseling when verbal counseling is supplemented with a multi-media mobile application versus a written gestational age handout.
Late preterm infants, who are born at 34, 35 or 36 weeks gestation, often have difficulty feeding, establishing growth, and fighting off infection. Breastfeeding provides improved nutrition to help fight infection, in part because breast milk encourages the growth of healthy bacteria (microbiota) in the infant's intestine. However, when mothers give birth preterm, their breasts are usually not quite ready to make milk; it can take several days to have enough breast milk to match a baby's nutritional needs. If there is not yet enough breast milk, formula is often used. However, formula can interfere with the growth of healthy intestinal bacteria. An alternate nutritional option is donor milk from a certified milk bank, which is available in all neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in San Francisco. However, no scientific studies have yet studied donor milk for late preterm infants, so currently all San Francisco NICUs (as well as the large majority of NICUs nationwide) reserve donor milk for infants born at <34 weeks. This study's investigators therefore propose the "Milk, Growth and Microbiota (MGM) Study," a randomized controlled trial to compare banked donor milk to formula for breastfeeding late preterm infants born in San Francisco. Once enrolled in MGM, infants will be randomly assigned to receive either formula or banked donor milk if they need additional nutrition until their mothers are making enough milk. After enrolling the babies, investigators will weigh them daily to assess their growth. The investigators will also collect infant bowel movements at baseline, 1 week and 1 month to determine whether donor milk vs. formula impacts the type of bacteria in the baby's intestine. If the study's results show that donor milk optimizes growth while helping establish healthy bacteria in the baby's intestine, donor milk might be postnatal strategy to bolster neonatal nutrition for late preterm infants.
Progesterone can be given to women at risk for preterm birth, and is advocated by many guidelines as progesterone has been shown to markedly decrease preterm birth, death in newborns, and disability. However, not all eligible women are currently receiving this medication. Thus, there is an urgent need to improve prevention of preterm birth with progesterone. In response to the low number of women receiving this medication, the investigators have designed a potential method to increase progesterone use. This method involves the use of an "alert" programmed into electronic medical records, to prompt doctors to prescribe progesterone to women at risk of preterm birth. This study is a randomized controlled trial that will assess the feasibility of using this "alert", by randomly assigning 8 clinics to either use this alert, or to provide their usual prenatal care. The investigators will then study whether the alert improved prescription of progesterone, and examine neonatal outcomes such as preterm birth and birth weight. Care providers will be asked for their feedback and thoughts about the alert, through questionnaires and structured interviews. The investigators hypothesize that the electronic medical record alert will increase care provider recommendations and prescription of progesterone for women at risk of preterm birth. The investigators hope that this study will lay the groundwork for larger future studies aimed to strengthen health care quality and improve the health outcomes of women and their babies.
Unblinded, controlled, non-randomized, mechanistic study to determine whether physiological mechanisms underlying PVC are sensitive to adenosine. One hundred subjects undergoing clinically-indicated, standard-of-care cardiac electrophysiology study (EPS) procedure for PVCs will receive adenosine and/or verapamil to learn if their arrhythmias are inducible similarly to sustained ventricular tachycardia.
Nutrition is a major issue for premature infants. Inappropriate nutritional intake during the first weeks of life is responsible for postnatal growth restriction and adverse long-term outcomes. This study aimed at evaluating the impact of the introduction of an updated, standardized, nutrition protocol on very premature infants' growth and morbidity, and the care givers' compliance to the new protocol.
This study plans to learn more about how to increase postpartum weight loss and how to decrease risk factors for postpartum women at increased risk for diabetes and heart disease. The program is delivered using a mobile application (app) and a lifestyle coach. This mobile application is developed for women who are at higher risk for diabetes and heart disease. Women who have gestational diabetes, (diabetes during pregnancy, or GDM), gestational hypertension (high blood pressure), and/or preeclampsia (high blood pressure and protein in the urine), and/or small-for gestational-age, and/or preterm (early) delivery during their pregnancies have a higher risk for diabetes and heart disease. This mobile application was developed using the latest research studies and using the evidence-based Diabetes Prevention and Colorado Weigh programs. The goal of the program is to help women lose weight and participate in physical activity after delivery.
This is a randomized controlled trial of a human-derived human milk fortifier (H2MF) vs standard bovine-derived human milk fortifier (HMF) evaluating fecal microbiota and fecal and urinary biomarkers of oxidative stress in premature infants.
Rapid Versus Slow Entral Feeding Advancements on Clinical Outcomes of Preterm Infants
Recent advances in neonatal intensive care have dramatically increased the survival rate of extremely premature infants but the number of survivors with severe morbidity and lifelong neurodevelopmental impairment remains high. Perinatal white matter injury is the predominant form of brain injury in premature infants, often leading to adverse neurodevelopmental outcome. Intrauterine and neonatal infection and inflammation have been identified as major risk factors of neonatal brain injury. The fragile gut microbiome of premature infants seems to play an important role in health and disease as distortions of the microbiome occur prior to sepsis and necrotizing enterocolitis. Furthermore, the close link of the gut microbiome to neurological and psychiatric diseases in animal models suggests that the microbiome may influence brain maturation and development in preterm infants. Recent studies have underlined the importance of regulatory T cells as well as γδ T cells in brain injury, which can be directly influenced by the gut microbiome. It is therefore likely that an underdeveloped or distorted gut microbiome affects host immune response and may be a risk factor for neurodevelopmental disabilities in extremely premature infants who are already challenged by the unphysiologic early extrauterine environment after premature birth which affects maturation of the gut microbiome and immune system as well as neurophysiological maturation alike. Therefore, the overarching aim of the PreMiBraIn study is to elucidate the role of the gut-immune-brain axis on neonatal brain injury and its impact on long-term neurodevelopmental outcome of extremely premature infants. The study cohort will consist of a total of 60 extremely premature infants with a gestational age < 28 weeks and birth weight < 1000 grams. The investigators seek to characterize the orchestrated dynamics of the maturation of the gut microbiome and the subsequent impact on maturation of innate and adaptive immune mechanisms as well as neurophysiological maturation and neurodevelopmental outcome. Furthermore, the investigators will assess the value of the microbiome as a prognostic indicator for neonatal brain injury as well as short- and long-term neurodevelopmental outcome of extremely premature infants. This goal will be achieved by state-of-the-art techniques using 16s rRNA gene sequencing of the gut microbiome, holistic analysis of T cell biology using flow cytometry, whole transcriptome analysis and proteomics as well as neurophysiological measurements (amplitude-integrated EEG, near-infrared spectroscopy, visual evoked potentials) and cranial MRI of extremely premature infants. Short- and long-term neurological outcome will be investigated using Bayley Scales of Infant Development, Third Edition at one and two years corrected age, and Kaufmann-Assessment Battery for Children at five years of age. The investigators expect to find microbiome signatures that are predictive for later neurodevelopmental disabilities which may then be used for early screening and intervention and may suggest personalized therapeutic options. The prospects of precision medicine targeting the gut-immune-brain axis in extremely premature infants hold the opportunity to improve the overall outcome of these high-risk patients.