Clinical characteristics of ureaplasma urealyticum pneumonia in preterm infants with gestational age less than 32 weeks

Objective: To investigate the clinical characteristics of ureaplasma urealyticum(UU) pneumonia in preterm infants less than 32 weeks. Methods: Preterm infants with gestational age 0.05] and birth weight[(1 282.03±292.49)g vs (1 196.62±322.89)g,t=1.34, P>0.05] between the two groups. In UU pneumonia group, the rate of singleton (86.5% vs 50%,χ2=12.15), chorioamnionitis (10.8% vs 1.55%,χ2=4.61), premature rupture of membranes>12 h (32.4% vs 11.8%,χ2=5.37) and vaginal delivery rate(59.5% vs 35.3%,χ2=4.75) were higher than UU negative group (P 0.05). After azithromycin treatment, the time for UU negative was (9.00±3.14) days. There was no significant difference in the incidence of bronchopulmonary dysplasia(73.0% vs 69.1%,χ2=0.036), retinopathy of prematurity(10.8% vs 26.5%,χ2=2.665), neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis(2.7% vs 1.5%,χ2=0.195), intraventricular periventricular hemorrhage (69.4% vs 72.1%,χ2=0.003) and periventricular leukomalacia (8.1% vs 8.8%,χ2=0.016) between the two groups (P>0.05). Conclusions: If premature rupture of membranes >12 h, combined with chorioamnionitis, and vaginal delivery, preterm infants less than 32 weeks are likely to have an increased risk of UU infection. UU pneumonia in preterm infants less than 32 weeks old was characterized by prolonged oxygen consumption and increased white blood cell count. Oral azithromycin treatment could effectively remove UU and improve prognosis.