View clinical trials related to Premature Birth.
Filter by:Extreme preterm birth interferes with the development of the cardiovascular system. Both macro- as well as microvasculature undergoes extensive, organ specific maturation. Under normal fetal conditions, microvascular growth drives renal development and continues until 34-36 weeks of gestational age, while retinal vascular growth continues until term age. Studies show that there is association between low birth weight and cardiovascular dysfunction. According to the Barker hypothesis, this is due to nutritional shortage. In extreme preterm birth cases, this growth restriction is observed in neonatal life. In adult life, this suboptimal growth is associated with impaired renal and (micro)vascular function, hypertension, glucose intolerance and cardiovascular disease. According to the Brenner hypothesis, disrupted renal development results in hyperfiltration and hypertension, a process that subsequently promotes itself and leads to renal impairment. We will investigate macro- and microvasculature in different organs, including eye, kidney, heart and sublingual mucosa in former preterm infants, now aged 8-13 years old and age-matched controls. The expectation is that the results of this project will identify risk factors for cardiovascular-renal disease in the adult life of former preterm infants compared to the controls, while further analysis on mediators in neonatal life of this cardiovascular-renal outcome may provide new information on perinatal risk factors.
Preterm babies cared for in the intensive care nursery are exposed to amounts of light that are very different from the exposures to an unborn baby or the newborn term baby. Currently many nurseries try to protect premature babies from too much light. They may also try to create light conditions of day and night like many parent homes. Some studies have shown improvements in health and development of babies cared for in nurseries that try to change light for premature babies.
Miscarriages and preterm births are common and serious events affecting women, families, and healthcare systems on many levels. One of the risk factors for miscarriage and preterm birth is bleeding in the first trimester of pregnancy. Progesterone, a hormone that plays a key role during pregnancy, has been proposed as a possible medication to be used in pregnancy to prevent miscarriage and preterm birth among women who have bleeding in their first trimester of pregnancy. Unfortunately, unless sound clinical evidence is obtained through a clinical trial, whether or not progesterone can indeed prevent miscarriage and preterm birth remains uncertain and thus is not a recommended treatment in women with early pregnancy bleeding. The purpose of our study is to evaluate the effect of progesterone for the prevention of miscarriage and preterm birth among women with early pregnancy bleeding. We will carry out a clinical trial in which 850 women will be randomized to receive either progesterone supplementation (425 women) or a similarly appearing placebo (425 women) and the outcome of their pregnancy will be compared.
This study is a 2-arm randomized, controlled, multi-center clinical trial to determine which of two strategies at birth are best to optimally aerate the lung of preterm infants. Specifically we will determine in 600 infants of 23-26 weeks gestational age (GA) requiring respiratory support at birth which of two lung opening strategies - either a standard PEEP/CPAP of 5-7 cm H2O in the delivery room (DR), as compared to early lung recruitment using Sustained Inflation (SI) in the DR, will result in a lower rate of the combined endpoint of death or bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) at 36 weeks gestational age. Hypotheses: 1. Early lung recruitment with SI superimposed upon standard PEEP/CPAP in the DR will reduce the need for mechanical ventilation in the first seven days of life, and reduce need for surfactant use; and 2. A policy of DR SI on standard PEEP/CPAP recruitment will confer better outcomes at 36 weeks post-menstrual age (PMA) than standard PEEP/CPAP
This study is designed as an exploratory study to assess safety and efficacy of two different doses of the anti-VEGF agent ranibizumab (0.12 mg vs. 0.20 mg) in the treatment of infants with retinopathy of prematurity. Furthermore it shall help to improve safety in the treatment of ROP and provide explorative data on long-term effects of ranibizumab after intravitreal injection in neonates. The primary objective is to assess clinical efficacy of ranibizumab in children with ROP
The purpose of this study is to determine if nifedipine treatment of women in preterm labor receiving corticosteroids results in postponement of delivery when compared to placebo.
Extremely premature (BW<1250g) infants are at high risk for morbidity and mortality. Own mother's colostrum (OMC) and milk (OMM) protect against neonatal morbidity and are rich in immune factors which may provide immunostimulatory effects when administered oropharyngeally to extremely premature infants during the first weeks of life. The investigators hypothesize that infants who receive oropharyngeal mother's colostrum and milk will have significantly lower rates of infection and improved health outcomes, compared to infants who receive a placebo.
The optimization of newborns nutrition is a challenge especially for preterm newborns for whom nutrition plays a crucial part in cerebral and global development. Human milk is considered as the best food for newborns. Several short and long-term beneficial health effects were attributed to breastfeeding and have induced the increase of human milk in preterm newborns nutrition. Whereas the chemical composition of infant formula has been optimized to mimic human milk, there is still a major difference between the structure of human milk and commercial infant formulas. It is well known in adult nutrition that the structure of emulsions influences their susceptibility to hydrolysis, such results have been obtained either on in vitro or in vivo studies. Human milk is a natural emulsion (oil in water). Lipids droplets are dispersed under the form of entities called milk fat globules (average diameter 4 µm, span 0.1-20 μm). The globules are stabilized by a trilayered membrane composed mainly of polar lipids (phospholipids, sphingolipids and gangliosides), of proteins, neutral lipids and other minor compounds. The physical treatments apply to human milk or more generally to bovine milk to pasteurize or stabilize the milk modify the structure of the natural emulsion. Heat treatment for instance induces whey proteins denaturation and the adsorption of protein aggregates on the surface of the milk fat globules. Heat treatment also leads to the denaturation of bile salt stimulated lipase. These effects limit intragastric lipolysis in preterm newborns. Conversely, reduction of milk globules size, by homogenisation of milk, increases the specific surface available for lipase adsorption and limits the lost of fat during enteral administration of milk. Such treatment could thus enhance gastric lipolysis and improve fat absorption of preterm newborns. The objective of this trial is to evaluate the effects of physical treatments (pasteurization and homogenisation by ultrasonication) applied to human milk on gastric lipolysis and milk destructuration. This trial is conducted, in vivo, on preterm newborns.
The purpose of this study is to understand more about why young people who were born prematurely may have increased risk of high blood pressure and lower cardiovascular exercise capacity.
Vitamin A is essential for optimal growth, and development. In the newborn, especially if preterm, it is necessary for the cellular differentiation, for the health of the anterior eye, it is a constituent of visual pigment, and it is essential for surfactant synthesis. Immune response Vitamin A supplementation demonstrated to reduces infancy mortality, but very low (<1500g birth weight) and extremely low (<1000g birth weight) preterm infants are born with low body stores of vitamin A and are at high risk of vitamin A deficiency. Nevertheless, optimal vitamin A supplementation for these infants is not clearly defined, despite evidence of benefit of an early supplementation. Prematurity is associate to the risk for bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) which is a disease marked by respiratory compromise associated with high mortality and severe long-term morbidity, as well as prematurity is associate to the risk for retinopathy, a pathology that may be related to less rhodopsin quantity which seem dependent on vitamin A concentration. Vitamin A can be given enterally, intramuscularly, or intravenously. Recently an oral administration as drops is available resulting particularly convenient avoiding the pain associated with repetitive intramuscular injections, or the discomfort of parenteral administration. Studies of vitamin A in the infant population suggest that plasma retinol concentrations >0.7 µM/L indicate vitamin A sufficiency, nevertheless preterm infants have lower concentration and concentration < 0.35 µM/L are very dangerous. Vitamin A deficiency at this level may constitute a problem for preterm newborn, resulting for example, in histological alterations in the respiratory epithelium leading to chronic lung disease, retinopathy of prematurity, patency of the ductus arteriosis, and immune competence deficiency. The aim of the present study is to verify efficacy and tolerability of a new oral administration of vitamin A as drops, 3000 IU/kg/die for 4 weeks, in infants < 1500g weight at birth, verifying the competence of the supplementation reaching ideal blood concentration (≥0.7 µM/L) and relating the blood achieved concentrations of vitamin A to the outcome in typical pathologies, as BPD and ROP. Not treated group of matched newborn infants is the controlarm.