Congenital diaphragmatic hernia: Short-term outcome

Background: Despite progress in medical and surgical care the mortality rate of congenital diaphragmatic hernia remains high. Assessment of short-term outcome is important for comparison between different medical centers. Objectives: To evaluate the short-term outcome of infants born with symptomatic CDH and to correlate demographic and clinical parameters with short-term outcome. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study in which demographic, obstetric and perinatal characteristics were extracted from infants' files. For comparison of categorical variables chi-square test and Fisher's exact test were used and for comparison of continuous variables with categorical variables the Mann-Whitney test was used. Sensitivity and specificity were estimated by receiver operator curve. Results: The study group comprised 54 infants with CDH, of whom 20 (37%) survived the neonatal period. Demographic characteristics were not associated with survival. Regarding antenatal characteristics, absence of polyhydramnion and postnatal diagnosis were correlated with better survival. Apgar scores (above 5 at 1 minute and 7 at 5 minutes), first arterial pH after delivery (above 7.135) and presence of pulmonary hypertension were significantly correlated with survival. Also, infants surviving up to 6 days were 10.71 times more likely to survive the neonatal period. Conclusions: The survival rate of symptomatic newborns with CDH at our center was 37% for the period 1988-2006. Prenatal diagnosis, Apgar score at 5 minutes and first pH after delivery were found to be the most significant predictors of survival. Prospective work is needed to evaluate the long-term outcome of infants with CDH.