Published articles

Sepcialist health care services use in a European cohort of infants born very preterm.
Seppänen AV, Bodeau-Livinec F, Boyle EM, Edstedt-Bonamy AK, Cuttini M, Toome L, Maier RF, Cloet E, Koopman-Esseboom C, Pedersen P, Gadzinowski J, Barros H, Zeitlin J; Effective Perinatal Intensive Care in Europe (EPICE) research group.
Dev Med Child Neurol. 2018 Dec 3.

AIM: Children born very preterm require additional specialist care because of the health and developmental risks associated with preterm birth, but information on their health service use is sparse. We sought to describe the use of specialist services by children born very preterm in Europe.

METHOD: We analysed data from the multi-regional, population-based Effective Perinatal Intensive Care in Europe (EPICE) cohort of births before 32 weeks' gestation in 11 European countries. Perinatal data were abstracted from medical records and parents completed a questionnaire at 2 years corrected age (4322 children; 2026 females, 2296 males; median gestational age 29wks, interquartile range [IQR] 27-31wks; median birthweight 1230g, IQR 970-1511g). We compared parent-reported use of specialist services by country, perinatal risk (based on gestational age, small for gestational age, and neonatal morbidities), maternal education, and birthplace.

Duration and Time Trends in Hospital Stay for Very Preterm Infants Differ Across European Regions.
Maier RF, Blondel B, Piedvache A, Misselwitz B, Petrou S, Van Reempts P, Franco F, Barros H, Gadzinowski J, Boerch K, van Heijst A, Draper ES, Zeitlin J; MOSAIC and Effective Perinatal Intensive Care in Europe (EPICE) research groups.
Pediatr Crit Care Med.. 2018 Dec 19(12):1153-1161.

OBJECTIVES: To compare duration and changes over time in length of hospital stay for very preterm and extremely preterm infants in 10 European regions.

DESIGN: Two area-based cohort studies from the same regions in 2003 and 2011/2012

Mode of delivery and mortality and morbidity for very preterm singleton infants in a breech position: A European cohort study.
Schmidt S, Norman M, Misselwitz B, Piedvache A, Huusom LD, Varendi H, Barros H, Cammu H, Blondel B, Dudenhausen J, Zeitlin J, Weber T; Effective Perinatal Intensive Care in Europe (EPICE) research group.
Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 2019 Jan 11.

OJECTIVE: Caesarean section (CS) may reduce mortality and morbidity for very pretemr breech infants, but evidence is inconclusive. We evaluated neonatal outcomes for singleton breech infants by mode of delivery in a Europan cohort.

STUDY DESIGN: Data come from the EPICE population-based cohort of very preterm births in 19 regions in 11 European countries (7770 live births). The study population was singleton spontaneous-onset breech births at 24-31 weeks gestational age (GA) without antenatal medical complications requiring caesarean delivery (N = 572). Mixed-effects regression models adjusting for maternal and pregnancy covariates and propensity score matching was used to examine the effect of (1) CS and (2) a unit policy of systematic CS for breech presentation by GA. The primary outcome was a composite of in-hospital mortality, intraventricular haemorrhage grades III & IV or cystic periventricular leukomalacia. Secondary outcomes were each component separately, five minute Apgar score below seven and mortality within six hours of delivery.

Low breastfeeding continuation to 6 months for very preterm infants: A European multiregional cohort study.
Bonnet C, Blondel B, Piedvache A, Wilson E, Bonamy AE, Gortner L, Rodrigues C, van Heijst A, Draper ES, Cuttini M, Zeitlin J; Effective Perinatal Intensive Care in Europe (EPICE) research group.
Matern Child Nutr. 2018 Aug 23:e12657.

Breastfeeding confers multiple benefits for the health and development of very preterminfants, but there is scarce information on the duration of breastfeeding after discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). We used data from the Effective Perinatal Intensive Care in Europe population-based cohort of births below 32 weeks of gestation in 11 European countries in 2011-2012 to investigate breastfeeding continuation until 6 months. Clinical and sociodemographic characteristics were collected from obstetric and neonatal medical records as well as parental questionnaires at 2 years of corrected age.

Breastfeeding outcomes in European NICUs: impact of parental visiting policies.
Cuttini M, Croci I, Toome L, Rodrigues C, Wilson E, Bonet M, Gadzinowski J, Di Lallo D, Herich LC, Zeitlin J; Effective Perinatal Intensive Care in Europe (EPICE) research group.
Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed. 2019 Mar;104(2):F151-F158.

OBJECTIVE: The documented benefits of maternal milk for very preterm infants have raised interest in hospital policies that promote breastfeeding. We investigated the hypothesis that more liberal parental policies are associated with increased breastfeeding at discharge from the neonatal unit.

DESIGN: Prospective area-based cohort study

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