Abstract:Objective: To investigate the effect of delayed cord clamping (DCC, clamping the cord after 60 s of delivery) on the clinical outcome in extremely preterm infants (gestational week<32 weeks). Methods: The clinical data of 100 cases of extremely premature infants from 2017 to 2019 were retrospectively analyzed and were divided into the experiment group (50 extremely premature infants with DCC) and the control group[50 extremely premature infants with immediate cord clamping (ICC, clamping within 15s after delivery)]. The level of hemoglobin (HB) and hematocrit (HCT) were compared after 24 hours and 2 weeks of birth between two groups, and the incidence of anemia and the amount of blood transfusion during hospitalization were also compared between two groups. The incidence of neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis, neonatal hyperbilirubinemia, periventricular intraventricular hemorrhage (PVH-IVH) and neonatal polycythemia was compared between the two groups. Results: After 24 hours and 2 weeks of birth, the hemoglobin in the experimental group was higher than that in the control group, with statistically significant difference (P<0.05). The hematocrit between two groups after 24 hours of birth had no statistical difference, but it in the experimental group was higher than that in the control group at 2 weeks after birth (P<0.05). There were significant differences in the incidence of anemia, transfusion and periventricular-intraventricular hemorrhage between two groups (P<0.05), but there was no significant difference in the incidence of hyperbilirubinemia, neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis and neonatal polycythemia between two groups. Conclusion: DCC can reduce the incidence of anemia, transfusion and PVH-IVH in extermely premature infants during hospitalization.
