A new tool more quickly identifies premature infants at risk for
life-threatening illness and reduces mortality by 20 percent,
according to research from the University of Alabama at
Birmingham published in the Aug. 25, 2011, online edition of the
Journal of Pediatrics. Premature babies are at greater risk for
myriad health complications than babies delivered at full-term,
and one of the most common causes of death is infection, says
Wally Carlo, M.D., director of the UAB Division of Neonatology.
Carlo is co-author of the report on the Heart Rate Observation
System (HeRO), a technology used to assess high-risk infants.
“Using the Heart Rate Observation System, we were able to
analyze multiple variables of the heart rate and calculate an
index that estimates the risk of developing infection — before
the infants show clinical manifestations,” Carlo says. “HeRO is
the first non-invasive technique for early detection of
infection in such a high-risk population. It is a novel
technology that gives real-time result