Epidemiology of prematurity and related comorbidities in very low birth weight preterm newborns

OBJECTIVE: To describe the major epidemiological features of prematurity, risk factors, prevalence of comorbidities, death and survival rates in very low birth weight newborns. METHODS: Transversal study with rectrospective data collection from medical charts of 616 premature and very low birth weight newborns admitted to Complexo Hospital de Clínicas da UFPR (CHC-UFPR) between August 2008 and August 2018. It was studied comorbidities prevalence, survival rate and factors related to mortality. For all statistical tests, it was considered a 5% level of significance. RESULTS: The average gestational age (GA) was 28.2 ± 2.9 weeks and the average birth weight (BW) was 997.4 ± 279.9 grams. The population with GA < 28 weeks (42.5%) had a greater need for neonatal resuscitation and ventilatory support and a higher prevalence of the following diseases: respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), pulmonary hypertension, pulmonary hemorrhage, peri-intraventricular hemorrhage (PIVH), retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) and early-onset neonatal sepsis. The main comorbidities associated with an increased risk of death were (p