Pediatrics, Neonatology & Primary Care

Biography

Biography: Maithili Joshi

Abstract

Background: Neonatal respiratory distress is a common clinical entity in the neonatal intensive care unit. The very first breaths of a newborn are distressed, but within minutes the respiration settles and becomes regular. There are many factors which can affect this transition from dependent fetal respiration to independent newborn respiration. The maternal factors causing neonatal respiratory distress are important in developing countries where socioeconomic variations exist. The preterm neonates are more likely to have respiratory distress. Regardless of the cause, if not recognized and managed quickly, respiratory distress can escalate to respiratory failure and cardiopulmonary arrest. Therefore, it is imperative that any health care practitioner caring for new born infants can readily recognize the signs and symptoms of respiratory distress, differentiate various causes and initiate management strategies to prevent significant complications or death. The neonatal mortality by respiratory distress can be decreased by proper monitoring of neonates in NICU and knowing the etiology of respiratory distress in neonates and managing according to the etiology; knowing the maternal illness and other conditions leading to respiratory distress. Objective: To study maternal causes of neonatal respiratory distress admitted in the NICU. Materials & Methods: The present study was conducted at a well-equipped NICU. NICU has separate inborn and out-born sections where neonates were admitted. It was conducted for a period of two years from 1st August 2014 to 31st July 2016. It was a prospective study of consecutively selected patient less than 1 month of age admitted in the NICU of this hospital fulfilling the inclusion criteria. All the newborns less than equal to 28 days admitted in the NICU (Inborn/Out-born) with clinically identified respiratory distress. In this study newborns who were admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit with clinically identified respiratory distress were included in the study. 400 newborns were recruited for this study as per the criteria. Results: Using the data gathered, a correlation coefficient of 0.5806 was obtained indicating a strong linear relationship between caesarian section and respiratory distress in the newborn. Babies born via caesarian section had likely chances of having respiratory distress. Conclusion: Caesarean section was the most common predisposing factor associated with the development of respiratory distress in neonates. Antenatal risk factors increase the incidence of respiratory distress. There is a need to prioritize antenatal care and counseling to pregnant mothers that includes multivitamin and folic acid supplementation, screening for diabetes, hypertension and, if possible, provision of detailed fetal evaluation in mothers with bad obstetric history or those having febrile illness during first trimester.