Active clinical trials for "Premature Birth"

Neonatal intensive care unit infants are at high risk for oromotor difficulties including poor coordination of sucking swallowing and breathing. These feeding difficulties often result in prolonged hospitalization, with increased physiologic stressors and poor growth. In preliminary studies, Pacifier Activated Lullaby (PAL) use showed potential increased oromotor skills and decreased length of hospitalization. The investigators propose to test the hypothesis that a week-long PAL intervention can improve feeding skills and decrease stress compared to standard of care parental interactions in infants in the late preterm period. The investigators also hypothesize that these improvements will result in shorter hospital stays and increased growth in the intervention group. Our study design is a prospective randomized controlled trial design of 94 infants (Post-conceptional ages 34-36 weeks). The 47 intervention-group infant/mother dads will receive a book library with one lullaby book and record her voice to the PAL, which the music therapist will then administer in 15-minute sessions for 5 consecutive days. The 47 participants in the control group will receive the same library but no recording will be made or PAL used. Outcomes measured will include time to full oral feeds, suck rate and efficiency, salivary cortisol levels before and after intervention, daily growth parameters and nutritional data, and hospital length of stay.

To demonstrate if indomethacin associated to conventional treatment for preterm labor is useful to delay delivery and to improve neonatal morbimortality in women with preterm labor with high risk of intraamniotic inflammation

This pilot study was a randomized, placebo-controlled, clinical trial to measure changes in blood and urine levels of inositol in premature infants at high risk for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) following a single intravenous dose of inositol. Based on previous studies, the premise is that maintaining inositol concentrations similar to those occurring naturally in utero will reduce the rates of ROP and bronchopulmonary dysplasia in premature infants. The objective was to evaluate the single-dose pharmacokinetics and safety of different amounts of intravenous myo-inositol (provided by Ross Products Division, Abbott Laboratories) in very low birth weight neonates, in preparation for a future Phase III multi-center randomized controlled trial. This study enrolled 74 infants at high risk for retinopathy at 9 NICHD Neonatal Research Network sites, and randomly assigned them to receive either 60mg/kg of 5% inositol, 120 mg/kg of 5% inositol, 60 mg/kg of 5% glucose (the placebo), or 120 mg/kg of 5% glucose.

The management of high-risk pregnancies require substantial use of medical resources. Our goal is to determine the effectiveness of a nurse case management program in which case managers are assigned to patients with high-risk conditions. Our hypothesis is that women with diabetes in pregnancy or hypertension who are assigned a nurse case manager will have lower glucose levels and lower blood pressure levels

Administration of steroid to the mother in imminent preterm delivery is a known effective practice to decrease the risk of respiratory distress syndrome and intraventricular haemorrhage in preterm infants if given with a week of the preterm delivery. This randomized clinical trial is performed to test the possibility whether the repeat dose of steroid results in further reduction of these diseases in case the mother is in imminent preterm delivery more than a week after the first antenatal steroid treatment.

The purpose of this study is to see if an oral sucrose solution can comfort premature infants during their necessary eye exams. The investigators believe that the use of this solution prior to the eye exams will lead to a decrease in pain as measured by a rise in heart rate and a fall in oxygen saturation. In addition this will lead to a decrease in events in the 12 hours following examination. Events include episodes when the infants temporarily stop breathing, have a drop in their heart rates, or have a drop in their oxygen levels.

Hypothesis: That a high hemoglobin threshold for transfusion in extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants is associated with a lower rate of survival without severe morbidity (defined as one or more of retinopathy of prematurity, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, or periventricular leukomalacia/ventriculomegaly). Primary Objective: To determine whether either a liberal or more restrictive threshold of hemoglobin level for red cell transfusion in ELBW infants is safer, by randomizing to either a high transfusion hemoglobin threshold or a low transfusion hemoglobin threshold. Follow-up at a corrected age of 18 months represents a conventional age at which to first assess neurodevelopmental outcomes, and to predict long-term outcomes.

Two groups of preterm infants with birth weight equal to or less than 1500 grams will be studied. One group will receive the standard care and the other will receive standard care plus maternal special tactile stimulation. Gain of weight, length and head circumference, date of the beginning of enteral feedings, length of time to recover birth weight and age of hospital discharge will be recorded and compared between both groups.

This research project is a multi-center double-blind, parallel, randomized, controlled clinical trial design comparing the efficacy of dental scaling and root planing to control treatment (superficial cleaning) for the prevention of preterm birth in pregnant women with periodontal disease.

The management options of Patent Ductus Arteriosus are still controversial and differ between centers. Recently, conservative management has been gaining interest as the evidence of benefit from medical treatment in terms of mortality and morbidity is lacking. This study will compare oral ibuprofen (the standard treatment) with the conservative treatment, in terms of ductal closure and morbidity and mortality at discharge in preterm neonates less than 34 weeks.