Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Infants Requiring Resuscitation in Developing Countries

Objective To determine whether resuscitation of infants who failed to develop effective breathing at birth increases survivors with neurodevelopmental impairment. Study design Infants unresponsive to stimulation who received bag and mask ventilation at birth in a resuscitation trial and infants who did not require any resuscitation were randomized to early neurodevelopmental intervention or control groups. Infants were examined by trained neurodevelopmental evaluators masked to both their resuscitation history and intervention group. The 12-month neurodevelopmental outcome data for both resuscitated and non-resuscitated infants randomized to the control groups are reported. Results The study provided no evidence of a difference between the resuscitated infants (n = 86) and the non-resuscitated infants (n = 115) in the percentage of infants at 12 months with a Mental Developmental Index