Short-Term Outcomes of Neonatal Resuscitation

Introduction: Neonatal resuscitation is a means to restore life to a baby from the state of asphyxia. It can end in either survival or death. Survivors may develop short-term complications in the immediate postnatal period. Objective: Determine the short-term outcomes following neonatal resuscitation. Materials and Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted for seven months running from November 2021 to June 2022 in two hospitals in Yaounde. Admission files of newborns who benefited from neonatal resuscitation at birth from the year 2019 to 2022 were included. We recorded the clinical characteristics of newborns (gestational age, gender, and birth weight), the frequency of transfers, the duration of admission, the rate and types of complications in an operating sheet The results were analysed using IBM SPSS 23.0 software and the data expressed as frequencies, percentages, and means. The threshold of significance was set at 5%. Results: A total of 245 files of newborns who benefited from neonatal resuscitation were included. The mean gestational age at delivery was 36.7 ± 3.6 weeks with a minimum and maximum of 25 weeks and 46 weeks respectively. 61.6% of newborns were born at term and were of the male sex (55.5%, sex ratio of 1.25). The average birth weight was 2748.4 ± 794.3 g (range: 800 - 5600 g) with 62.4% of newborns weighing between 2500 and 4000 g. 97.1% of the newborns were transferred to the neonatology unit with a median length of hospitalization of 5 days. The frequency of short-term complications during the study was 26.9% and hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy was the most common (97%). Newborns resuscitated for more than 5 minutes were more likely to develop a short-term complication. Conclusion: Hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy was the most frequent complication post-resuscitation and a prolonged duration of resuscitation favoured the development of short-term complications.