Determinants Of The Outcomes Of Preterm Infants At The Korle Bu Teaching Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Preterm births are deliveries that occur before 37 completed gestational

weeks with its lower cut off limit of viability varying based on the geographic location.

Preterm births may be as a consequence of obstetric interventions from fetal or maternal

indications or spontaneous preterm labor with no apparent precursors. This study sought

to determine the outcomes of preterm infants managed at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and the factors affecting the outcomes.

Method: A retrospective analysis of data from all medical records of preterm infants

admitted to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital NICU between January 2017 and May 2019.

A data extraction form was used to extract relevant available information on both mother

and infant, characteristics, health status and infant outcome at discharge. Univariate

analyses of categorical variables were expressed as frequencies and proportions. Chi

square analysis and logistic regression were used to determine factors associated with

outcomes of preterm births. P-values less than 0.05 were considered to be statistically

significant.

Results: Out of the 1274 preterm neonate’s data reviewed in this study, 70.3% survived

and were discharged from the NICU. Reasons for admission to NICU included being

preterm only (87.5%), being preterm with asphyxia (8.7%) and being preterm with

respiratory distress (2.4%). Less than half (43.5%) of the neonates were resuscitated

prior to admission at NICU. More than a third (36.3%) were very low birth weight

(

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