Early hyperglycemia linked to increased risk of severe retinopathy of prematurity in preterm infants

Mann-Whitney U test and Student's t-tests were used to analyze continuous data and Fisher's exact test or chi-squared test were used to analyze categorical data. The relation between hyperglycemia and various morbidities was studied after controlling for gestational age (GA) through logistic regression analysis.

The study revealed the following findings:

• Of the 235 infants included in the study, 49% were hypoglycemic at admission to the NICU.
• Infants that were small for GA and those with a history of maternal β-blocker use had a higher incidence of hypoglycemia.
• Hypoglycemia at admission was not associated with increased mortality or any major morbidities.
• Seventy-three per cent of infants who were hypoglycemic or euglycemic at birth developed iatrogenic hyperglycemia during the first 72 hours of life.
• The incidence of ROP and severe ROP was higher in infants with hyperglycemia on univariate analysis.
• On multivariate analysis, after adjusting for GA, no difference was noted in the incidence of ROP between the two groups.
• Multivariate analysis could not be performed for severe ROP due to inadequate sample size.

"The findings revealed that early hyperglycemia is associated with increased incidence of severe retinopathy of prematurity in extremely low birth weight infants," the researchers concluded.

Reference:

Esmail, Jihan, et al. "Early Hyperglycemia Is Associated With Increased Incidence of Severe Retinopathy of Prematurity in Extremely Low Birth Weight Infants." American Journal of Perinatology, 2023.