Browsing by department "Biolääketieteen laitos, Naistenklinikka"

Respiratory distress syndrome is a major cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality in premature infants caused by immaturity of the lungs. In recent years lamellar body count (LBC) has replaced phospholipid tests as the primary fetal lung maturity assessment method. Our aim was to develop new reference values for LBC and compare the performance of LBC and phospholipids. We also wanted to estimate the impact of new references on the costs and accuracy of the fetal lung maturity determination. Data was collected on all mothers who had LBC testing at Women's Hospital (Helsinki University Central Hospital) during 2009-2011 (n=299) and their fetuses. As in other recent studies, LBC was found to perform slightly better than phospholipids. Specificity and sensitivity values for LBC were calculated with ROC analysis and the results led to the recommendation of a single cutoff value for LBC and the discontinuation of phospholipid testing in non-diabetic mothers.