Association of Acute Kidney Injury and Intraventricular Hemorrhage in Preterm Infants

Objective: Germinal matrix hemorrhage-intraventricular hemorrhage (GMH-IVH) is seen in 40% of preterm infants. There are various studies suggesting that acute kidney injury (AKI), increases the frequency of GMH-IVH. We aimed to investigate the effects of AKI on the development of GMH-IVH in preterm infants. Methods : 158 infants with a gestational age of less than 32 weeks and/or a birth weight of less than 1500 grams are examined. Demographic, clinical, imaging and laboratory data of the cases were recorded. Results: GMH-IVH was detected in 18.4% (29/158) of the patients whereas AKI was detected in 11.4% (18/158) of the patients in the first seven days of life. The development of AKI in the first seven days was significantly higher in the group with GMH-IVH than in the group without GMH-IVH. GMH-IVH was significantly higher in the group with AKI than in the group without AKI. The GMH-IVH stage of the patients with AKI was also significantly higher than the group without AKI. Multivariate regression analysis showed that AKI was an independent risk factor for the development of GMH-IVH in the first seven days of life. Conclusion: Although it is difficult to establish a direct cause and effect relationship between AKI and GMH-IVH, there is a strong association between acute kidney injury and GMH-IVH.