First year follow-up of extremely low birth weight premature sextuplets: case report

Abstract

High order gestation rates have increased in many western countries in the last decades, which is mostly attributable to a contemporaneous increase in maternal age and infertility treatment. Multiple births have been associated with increased maternal and foetal morbidity and mortality during pregnancy and delivery, including the higher risk for spontaneous abortion, preeclampsia, hydramnios, and maternal haemorrhage. A higher frequency of preterm infants and low birth weight infants have also been reported, as well as a higher rate of malformations, abnormal growth, and trauma at delivery, than in singleton pregnancies []. We describe herein the case of six ELBW newborns delivered at 27 weeks and their first year follow-up. All the sextuplets survived and did not have extra uterine growth retardation (EUGR) when discharged from hospital. A developmental delay was detected in five infants at 12 months corrected age (CA), but none of them showed cerebral palsy or severe neurosensorial disabilities.

Keywords::

• sextuplets
• extremely low birth weight
• prematurity
• follow-up

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Mrs Luisa Zeolla for her contribution to this paper.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.