A Prospective Study to Assess Early Neonatal Morbidities in Early Term Neonates Admitted in NICU/SNCU of District Hospital

Abstract

Background: Although preterm babies are a category known for its high mortality and diverse morbidities, the overall incidence of prematurity related complications decreases significantly with increasing gestational age. The present prospective study was conducted to assess early neonatal morbidities in early term neonates admitted in NICU/SNCU of district hospital. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective study to assess early neonatal morbidities in early term neonates admitted in NICU/SNCU of district hospital. A consecutive 750 intramural newborns were examined. Morbidities of the early term and full-term babies within the first seven days of life were observed. All the babies included in the study were examined at birth, after 24 hours, after 48 hours and daily up to seven days. The recorded data was compiled, and data analysis was done using SPSS Version 20.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA). P-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: In the present study 750 term babies constituted in the study population. Out of the total 750 population included in the study, 227 were early term (30.26%) and 523(69.73%) were full terms. Among the study population most of the babies were 39 weeks of gestational age (30.66%) and the least being 37 weeks (12.4%). NICU/SNCU admission rates were higher for babies born at an earlier gestational age (15.85% v/s 8.6%) than babies born later. Incidence of morbidities like jaundice requiring phototherapy (6.6% v/s 2.86%), need for resuscitation (7.04% v/s 3.44%), hypoglycemia on admission (5.28% v/s 1.72%), respiratory morbidities (2.86% v/s 1.72%), need for mechanical ventilation (2.2% v/s 0.95%), clinical sepsis (7.04% v/s 3.05%), confirmed sepsis (4.5% v/s 1.72%), need for intravenous antibiotics (11.01% v/s 5.35%), need for intravenous fluid (12.77% v/s 6.30%) were significantly higher in early terms than full terms during the first one week of life. Conclusion: The present study concluded that early term babies were 30.26% and 69.73% were full terms. NICU/SNCU admission rates were higher for babies born at an earlier gestational age than babies born later.