Body temperatures of very low birth weight infants on admission to a neonatal intensive care unit

Abstract

Objective: Hypothermia occurs frequently in the first minutes after birth in preterm infants. Hyperthermia also occurs, often as a consequence of efforts to provide thermal support. Both hypothermia and hyperthermia are potentially harmful. Our objective was to examine the distribution of admission temperatures of very low birth weight (VLBW) infants, the effect of gestational age on admission temperatures, and the time required for correction of low temperatures.

Methods: Admission axillary temperatures were retrieved from the medical records for all VLBW infants born in our hospital during a 5-year period. The temperatures were classified as severe (<35.0 °C), moderate (35.0–35.9 °C), or mild (36.0–36.4 °C) hypothermia, normothermia (36.5–37.4 °C), or hyperthermia (≥37.5 °C). The relationship between gestational age and admission temperature was examined. In addition, we analyzed the time required for normalization of low temperatures.

Results: Overall, 12% of infants were severely hypothermic, 40% moderately hypothermic, 27% mildly hypothermic, 19% normothermic, and 2% hyperthermic. Gestational age was inversely related to hypothermia risk and to the time required for recovery to normothermia.

Conclusion: Admission hypothermia is common among VLBW infants and is affected by gestational age.

Keywords:

• Body temperature
• hyperthermia
• hypothermia
• preterm infants
• very low birth weight infants

Acknowledgements

Ms. O’Brien was supported by a fellowship from the Iowa Center for Research by Undergraduates.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by grant [UL1 RR024979] from the NIH, which supported development and use of the REDCap database.