Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28656697›Full record

ReviewDevelopmental medicine and child neurology2018

Hypoxia-ischemia is not an antecedent of most preterm brain damage: the illusion of validity.

Floyd Gilles, Pierre Gressens, Olaf Dammann, Alan Leviton

Open access · hybridAbstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Developmental medicine and child neurology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
29citing papers in PubMed
9.7field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

29 citing papers in PubMed, 50 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
  2. Review
  3. Review
  4. Systemic hypotension and patterns of cerebral blood perfusion in newborns.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2025
    Article
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  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Article
  10. Review
  11. Article
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  13. Article
  14. The clinical usefulness of cerebral oximetry.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2021
    Article
  15. Article
  16. Review
  17. Review
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.

Floyd GillesChildren's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-5426-3549
Pierre GressensInserm, U1141, Hôpital Robert Debré, Paris, France.
Olaf DammannTufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
Alan LevitonBoston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Boston Children's Hospital · USChildren's Hospital of Los Angeles · USSt Thomas' Hospital · GBTufts University · US

Funding

Neonatal Biomarkers in Extremely Preterm Babies Predict Childhood Brain DisordersU01NS040069 · NINDS · CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL BOSTON · PI KUBAN, KARL · 2001 to 2014
$34.0M
SYNAPTIC MECHANISMS IN HIPPOCAMPAL EPILEPTOGENESISP30HD018655 · NICHD · CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL BOSTON · PI POMEROY, SCOTT LOREN · 1985 to 2015
$26.2M
Circulating Immune Biomarkers and Retinopathy of PrematurityR01EY021820 · NEI · TUFTS UNIVERSITY BOSTON · PI DAMMANN, OLAF · 2013 to 2016
$1.7M
NEI NIH HHS R01 EY021820NICHD NIH HHS P30 HD018655NINDS NIH HHS U01 NS040069Wellcome Trust
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Brain injury in preterm newborn infants is often attributed to hypoxia-ischemia even when neither hypoxia nor ischemia is documented, and many causative speculations are based on the same assumption. We review human and animal study contributions with their strengths and limitations, and conclude that - despite all the work done in human fetal neuropathology and developmental models in animals - the evidence remains unconvincing that hypoxemia, in the fetus or newborn infant, contributes appreciably to any encephalopathy of prematurity. Giving an inappropriate causal name to a disorder potentially limits the options for change, should our understanding of the etiologies advance. The only observationally-based title we think appropriate is 'encephalopathy of prematurity'. Future pathophysiological research should probably include appropriately designed epidemiology studies, highly active developmental processes, infection and other inflammatory stimuli, the immature immune system, long chain fatty acids and their transporters, and growth (neurotrophic) factors. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: Fetal hypoxemia is rarely documented in brain injury studies. Animal studies fail to consider human-animal fetal anatomical differences. Putative treatments from animal models have not found clinical use. Observational studies constitute the only approach to etiological understanding. No convincing evidence yet that hypoxemia injures preterm brain. Encephalopathy of prematurity is preferable to hypoxia-ischemia as a term for this disorder. Encephalopathy of prematurity is preferable to hypoxia-ischemia as a term for this disorder.

Indexed as

Infant, PrematureAnimalsBrain InjuriesFetusHumansHypoxia-Ischemia, BrainInfantInfant, NewbornInfant, Premature, Diseases

Identifiers

PMID28656697
PMCPMC5745320
OpenAlexW2728631611

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.