Abstract
For more than 100 years specific equipment has been used to keep newborns warm [1]. The first air-controlled incubator with integrated humidification was designed in 1947 [1] by Chappie. Since then, and especially in the last 15 years, birth weights have decreased to as low as 450g and gestational ages to as early as the 24th week of gestation. These very small newborns have different heat losses than full term babies: the heat loss by evaporation is much higher [2], the ratio of surface area to body weight is less favourable and body heat production is very limited. This results in greater requirements from warming therapy equipment and these are described in this paper.
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Koch, J. (1995). Physical Properties of the Thermal Environment. In: Okken, A., Koch, J. (eds) Thermoregulation of Sick and Low Birth Weight Neonates. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79934-1_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79934-1_10
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