Relationship between hyaline membrane disease and intraventricular hemorrhage as cause of death in low birth weight infants

Autopsy studies on 608 low birth weight infants revealed hyaline membrane disease, intraventricular hemorrhage, or a combination of the two, as primary cause of death in 281 or 46 per cent of the cases. Infants dying of hyaline membrane disease alone were mostly male, Caucasian, mean birth weight of 1,477 grams, while those infants dying of intraventricular hemorrhage alone were mostly Negro, mean birth of 996 grams, and showed an increased incidence of low 1 minute Apgar Scores. The group of infants dying with both hyaline membrane disease and intraventricular hemorrhage present at autopsy had characteristics similar to those infants dying with hyaline membrane disease alone.