Urinary Uric Acid Creatinine ratio useful marker of morbidity and mortality of preterm infants

The research is published in the BMC Pediatrics.

The present case–control study was carried on 102 preterm newborn infants with gestational age of 30 weeks to 33 weeks and 6 days admitted in the neonatal intensive care unit. The case group, consisted of 51 premature neonates with a history of intubation, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, mechanical ventilation and Nasal continuous positive airway pressure (NCPAP) at birth, were compared with 51 matched neonates.

The UUA/Cr ratio was measured in the first 24 h after birth. Complications during hospitalization, duration of hospitalization, and final outcome were evaluated. The study showed that the mean level of UUA/Cr ratio in case and control group were 5.4 ± 4.1 and 3.6 9 ± 2.9 respectively and this difference was statistically significant (p = 0.014).

Furthermore, the UUA/Cr ratio were significantly higher in females, cesarean section delivery, Apgar score ≥ 8, neonates without any complication and neonates with less than 10 days of hospitalization. However, this ratio has no predictive value for the incidence of complications during hospitalization and long-term hospital stay for infants of the case group.

As a result, the authors concluded that the UUA/Cr ratio can be a good predictor of increasing the length of hospital stay in healthy preterm infants. However, this ratio has no predictive value for the incidence of complications during hospitalization or long-term hospitalization stay in sick premature newborns.

In order to achieve the predictive role of this ratio for the long-term outcome of patients, it is recommended that cohort studies be designed and implemented in this regard, they further added.