Predicting survival in infants born at <27 weeks gestation admitted to an all referral neonatal intensive care unit: a pilot study

Background There are no available predictive models for survival in extremely preterm (EP) infants admitted to a referral Level IV neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) after the first day of life (DOL). Objective To determine if there are clinical variables present at admission that are associated with survival in an outborn EP population. Study design Data were analyzed from EP infants admitted before DOL 100 from 2008 to 2016 (n = 744). Results We found that prophylactic indomethacin (OR 1.98 (1.20-3.25) p = 0.007), admit DOL (OR 1.05 (1.02-1.08) p < 0.001), and birth in Franklin County, (OR 2.02 (95% CI, 1.04-3.90) p = 0.04) were all associated with survival. Using ROC analysis, the area under the curve for the provisional survival score was 0.69 (95% CI, 0.64-0.75; p < 0.0001). Conclusions There are factors on admission to a referral Level IV NICU associated with survival in EP patients.