Mortality and Morbidity in Extremely Low Birth Weight (ELBW) Infants in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

• Published in: Indian journal of pediatrics 2013, Vol.80 (1), p.16-20
• Main Authors: Tagare, Amit, Chaudhari, Sudha, Kadam, Sandeep, Vaidya, Umesh, Pandit, Anand, Sayyad, Mehmood G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Diseases of mother, fetus and pregnancy; Female; General aspects; Gynecology; Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics; Humans; Infant Mortality; Infant, Extremely Low Birth Weight; Infant, Newborn; Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; Male; Medical sciences; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Morbidity; Original Article; Pediatrics; Pregnancy. Fetus. Placenta; Prospective Studies; Survival Analysis; Survival Rate
• ISSN: 0019-5456; 0973-7693
• DOI: 10.1007/s12098-012-0818-5

Objective To determine the morbidity and mortality in ELBW babies till discharge from a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Methods This study was a prospective observational study conducted in a 40 bed well equipped level III care NICU between 01.12.2006 and 30.04.2008. All ELBW babies admitted during this period were assessed for morbidities and interventions required during NICU stay and for their outcome like survival or death. Results The survival rate of 87 ELBW babies admitted during this period was 56.1 %. Pulmonary hemorrhage was the commonest cause of death (25 %) followed by respiratory distress syndrome (22.5 %), intraventricular hemorrhage (22.5 %) and sepsis (20 %). Significantly higher number of non-survivors were