Maternal and neonatal characteristics affecting immediate outcomes of extremely low birth weight infants at Ido-Ekiti, Nigeria

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the maternal and neonatal characteristics affecting the survival of Extremely Low Birth Weight (ELBW) infants at Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido-Ekiti (FETHI).
Study design: A retrospective study in which the clinical records of ELBW infants admitted between January 2013 and December 2017 were reviewed. The main outcome was survival of the participants. The maternal and neonatal variables of discharged babies were compared with those that died using with Chi square analysis and Student’s t-tests. p-value was set at 0.05.
Study Participants: All ELBW infants managed in FETHI during the study period.
Results: 1236 babies were admitted into the neonatal unit during the study period out of which 33 (2.7%) were ELBW babies. The mean gestational age (GA) and mean birthweight (BW) of the ELBW babies were 27.2 ± 2.7 weeks and 780 ± 130g respectively. The overall survival rate was 30.3%. The mean GA of survivors versus non-survivors was 28.1 ± 1.7 weeks versus 26.8 ± 2.9 weeks (p = 0.210). The mean BW of the survivors was 870 ± 50g versus 740 ± 130g (p = 0.005) for the non-survivors. Significantly associated with survival were maternal age above 20 years (p < 0.026), neonatal age at presentation less than 24 hours (p <0.005) and BW ≥ 800g (p <0.005).
Conclusion: Though the survival of ELBW infants in this study is still low (30.3%); birthweight ≥ 800g, early hospital presentation and a maternal age greater than 20 years old greatly improve the chances of survival.