Dysmaturity

Abstract

In order to prevent confusion between the terms 'prolonged pregnancy' and 'postmaturity' the term 'dysmaturity' is introduced to denote the placental insufficiency syndrome. One thousand, one hundred and seventy-one newborn infants have been classified according to dysmaturity and studied from various aspects. The frequency of dysmaturity in our series is 16 7% and increases with advancing gestation time; it is also higher for primiparae and male infants. Both normal and dysmature infants increase in weight during gestation, but from the 39th week onwards until delivery the dysmature infants have a mean birth weight 200 g. below that of normal infants. As dysmaturity becomes increasingly severe the oxygen saturation in the cord blood decreases, whereas there is an increase in the haemoglobin, in the plasma pentoses, in the protein- bound hexoses, in the bilirubin and in the nonprotein nitrogen. The more pronounced signs of dysmaturity are also allied to an increased frequency of albumin and glucose in the urine of the newborn infants.