Active clinical trials for "Birth Weight"

Patent ductus arterioses (PDA) is a major morbidity in preterm infants, especially in extremely premature infants less than 28 weeks. The clinical signs and symptoms of PDA in preterm infants are non specific and insensitive for making an early diagnosis of significant ductal shunting. Functional echocardiography is emerging as a new valuable bedside tool for early diagnosis of hemodynamically significant ductus, even though there are no universally accepted criteria for grading the hemodynamic significance. Echocardiography has also been used for early targeted treatment of ductus arterioses, though the long term benefits of such strategy are debatable. The biomarkers like BNP and N- terminal pro-BNP are currently under research as diagnostic marker of PDA. The primary mode of treatment for PDA is pharmacological closure using cyclo-oxygenase inhibitors with closure rate of 70-80%. Oral ibuprofen is emerging as a better alternative especially in Indian scenario where parenteral preparations of indomethacin are unavailable and side effects are comparatively lesser. Though pharmacological closure of PDA is an established treatment modality, there is still lack of evidence for long term benefits of such therapy as well as there is some evidence for the possible adverse effects like increased ROP and BPD rates, especially if treated prophylactically.The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of oral ibuprofen prophylaxis administrated on the first 24 hours of life and the following two days on hemodynamically significant patent ductus arterioses and its long term effects such as ROP and BPD.

This is a prospective observational study to determine whether there is an association between the presence of platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase (PAF-AH) gene polymorphisms and the development of chronic lung disease in very low birth wight infants. Infants < 1500 grams at birth who require mechanical ventilation will be enrolled in the first 5 days of life after obtaining informed consent. A total of 1 ml of blood will be drawn and utilized for isolation of DNA for genotyping and for measurement of PAF-AH activity in serum.

Probiotics are favorable microorganisms that regulate the flora of the gastrointestinal system and stimulate the immune system. Necrotizing enterocolitis incidence is 10-25% in newborn infants whose birth weights are < 1500 gr. Although bifidobacterium and lactobacilli sp. have been used to reduce the incidence of NEC in clinical trials, Saccharomyces boulardii has not been used in the prevention of NEC in very low birth weight infants yet. The objective of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of orally administered S boulardii in reducing the incidence and severity of NEC in very low birth weight infants.

The investigators are developing a research platform capable of improving children's health through the generation of knowledge from analysis of routinely collected data from within and outside the health service. The investigators are using the data that are routinely collected in Wales to answer specific questions about child health and well-being, with the aim of informing policy and practice in Wales, whilst also being internationally relevant. Routinely collected datasets are publicly funded, and have already been incorporated into the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage databank. The investigators are combining these datasets on children from health and social care to establish an anonymised Wales wide Electronic Cohort for Children (WECC). WECC will serve as the platform for future work in translating information into child population health policy. There are 35,000 births in Wales per year, and data are available for the previous ten years. Thus, WECC will be sufficiently powered to answer important social, economic and health policy questions. WECC will also act as a demonstration project which would inform the development of e-cohorts to support translational research across the life course and disease spectrum.

This observational study tests the feasibility of enrolling subjects and obtaining an amplitude-integrated electroencephalogram (aEEG) within the first 72 hours of life, a second aEEG recording between 72-168 hours of life, and weekly thereafter up to 36 weeks post-menstrual age. It will enroll 85-100 infants between 401-1,000 grams birth weight OR between 23 0/7 and 28 6/7 weeks gestational age born at the 7 participating NICHD Neonatal Research Network sites.

The ENAT study will test the impact of packages of antenatal interventions to enhance maternal nutrition and manage pregnancy infections on the outcomes of infant birth size, gestational length, and infant growth in the first 6 months of life. Approximately 5,280 pregnant women will be enrolled into the study from 12 health centers in the Amhara region of Ethiopia. Routine antenatal care will be strengthened in all health centers, and six health centers will be randomized to additionally provide a nutritional intervention including daily multiple-micronutrient or a fortified balanced-energy protein supplement for malnourished women. Women across all 12 health centers will be individually randomized to receive one of three infection management interventions in pregnancy: 1) enhanced infection management package (screening-treatment for urinary tract infections and sexually transmitted infections, presumptive deworming); 2) presumptive azithromycin (2g at <24 wks and a second dose at least 4 weeks later); or 3) placebo. The women and their infants will be followed until 6 months postpartum. Outcomes of interest include birth size (weight, length), gestational age, maternal weight gain in pregnancy, maternal anemia, antimicrobial resistance, and infant size at 6 months.

Introduction: Low birthweight (LBW) is associated with a wide range of short- and long-term consequences and is related to a complex set of maternal psychosocial and behavioural determinants. The objective of this study is to assess the effect of implementing fast-track referral for early intervention on psychosocial and behavioural risk factors - smoking, alcohol consumption, depression and interpersonal violence - on reducing the incidence of LBW. Methods and analysis: Parallel superiority pragmatic clinical trial randomized by clusters. Primary health care units (PHCU) located in Portugal will be randomized (1:1) to intervention or control groups. Pregnant women over 14 years of age attending these PHCU will be eligible to the study. Risk factors will be assessed through face-to-face interviews. In the intervention group, women who report at least one risk factor will have immediate access to referral services. The comparison group will be the local standard of care for these risk factors. The investigators will use intention-to-treat analyses to compare intervention and control groups. A sample size of 2,832 pregnant women was estimated to detect a 30% reduction in the incidence rate of LBW (primary outcome) between the control and intervention groups. Secondary outcomes are the reduction of preterm births and reduction of risk factors targeted by the intervention.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of acupressure application in very low birth weight premature.

The overall objective of this study is to investigate in depth the impact of birth weight on the nature of metabolic physiology, body composition and epigenetic differences of the different phenotypes of overweight and obese individuals who are otherwise overtly healthy. We also aim to determine the efficacy of a weight loss intervention on the above mentioned metabolic parameters in these individuals.

In the study, very low birth weight babies born in our hospital will be randomized in the closed envelope method, and breast milk fortifier will be started when 50 ml/kg/day breastfeeding volume is reached in one group, and breast milk enrichment will be started when 100 ml/kg/day enteral feeding is reached in the other group. In the study, the babies in these two groups will be compared by making early (nutrition characteristics and premature morbidity) and long-term follow-ups. In this study, a 30% reduction in the transition time to full enteral nutrition between the groups corresponds to a difference of approximately 5 days. In our study, the sample size was determined as at least 78 patients in each group, with a margin of error of 0.05 and a power of 80% to show the 5-day difference between the groups.