EC Paediatrics

Aims:

1. To determine the common neonatal conditions which resulted in admission to the neonatal unit.
2. To establish the common maternal morbidities associated with the babies admitted to the neonatal unit.
3. To determine if maternal morbidities contributed to the admission into neonatal unit.

Method: The study was carried out at Royale Hayat Hospital (RHH), Kuwait, a level 3 neonatal unit in the private setting with 6000 deliveries per year and data was extracted from TrakCare hospital information system (HIS), clinical notes and medical discharge summaries.

Findings: Most babies who were admitted to the neonatal unit were either late preterm (34 - 36 weeks 45.5%) or at 37 weeks (16%) of gestation. The cesarean section rate was 69% for those born at 34 - 36 weeks of gestations and 54% of the babies of those born at 37 weeks gestation. The most common reasons for admission to the neonatal unit were respiratory distress (31.2%) followed by prematurity (16.1%). The most common morbidity in mothers of the study population was diabetes mellitus (19%). 77.6% of mothers whose babies were admitted to neonatal unit had no associated morbidities.

Conclusion: Most babies who were admitted to the neonatal unit were born at or below 36 weeks of gestation (66.2%). The most common maternal morbidity was diabetes mellitus (19%), but it is difficult to draw any association from the available data. Efforts should be made to decrease deliveries at lower gestation to reduce the admission to the neonatal unit and attendant consequences.

 Keywords: Maternal; Neonatal; Pattern; Morbidities; Admissions

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