Outcome of Very Preterm Infants With Glucose Level Disturbances

The hypothesis of this prospective, cohort study is that hyperglycemia, hypoglycemia and unstable glucose levels in the first seven days of life in infants born very preterm and at very low birth weights can harm long-term neurodevelopment. The objective of the study is to investigate the relationship between early neonatal glycemia, neonatal characteristics, and developmental outcomes in preterm infants. All infants born before 32. gestational week or below 1500 g admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit will be included in the study. According to the glucose values, the infants will be divided into the normoglycemic group and the group with disturbed glucose concentration. In the corrected age of two neurodevelopmental outcome will be assessed and categorized as normal, mild, moderate or severe impairment. Since the results of published studies about the effects of asymptomatic neonatal hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia on neurodevelopment are inconsistent, the correlation between early disturbances in glucose levels and neurodevelopmental outcome will be assessed.