Domínguez DF, Barrios RY, Roca MMC, Arencibia BT

Language: Spanish
References: 0
Page: 330-339
PDF size: 179.99 Kb.

ABSTRACT

Introduction: the medical advances in the last few decades have brought about higher survival rates of very low birth weight neonates with less than 32 weeks of gestation. Objectives: to determine the incidence and the survival rates of very low birth weight neonate (under 1 500 g) at "Ramon Gonzalez Coro" university gynecobstetric hospital located in Havana in the five-year periods from 1971 to 2015 as well as identifying the human and material resources for the neonatal care, which contributed to the obtained survival rates. Methods: a cross-sectional, analytical and observational study was conducted, in which the universe of study was made up of 1 798 very low birth weight infants, who had been cared for at the neonatology service in that tertiary institution throughout 45 years. The survival and incidence rates of the very low birth weight newborns per 100 live births in every studied five-year period were then estimated. The factors that might explain the reached survival rates in the studied period were also identified. For the collection of primary data, we used the permanent registers of the neonatology services and of the statistical registry department. All the information was processed with Microsoft Excel statistical package from Microsoft Office 2010. Results: the incidence rate of the very low birth weight neonates throughout the 9 five-year periods was 1 % approximately. The survival gradually increased from 53 % in the first of 9 five-year periods (1971-1975) to over 85 % in the last two periods (2006-2015), with rising tendencies. Among the factors linked to the neonatal care, which might explain the survival rates, are: higher number of physicians and specialized nurses, the timely introduction of techniques and diagnostic and therapeutic techniques and procedures such as the use of Cuban exogenous surfactant and the most novel techniques of neonatal resuscitation and ventilation along with actions to prevent intraventricular hemorrhage; monitoring of brain´s electrical activity; rational use of antimicrobials and better approach to nutritional issues. Conclusions: despite the stability of the incidence rates of the very low birth weight newborn in 45 years, a growing tendency has been registered in survival due to a group of human and material resources that were gradually incorporated to this end.