Morbidity in extreme low birth weight newborns hospitalized in a high risk public maternity

Abstract Objectives: to determine the prevalence of the most common morbidities in extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants hospitalized in a newborn intensive care unit (NICU) and to evaluate the influence of these morbidities through the length of in-hospital stay. Methods: observational, longitudinal, prospective and analytical study in a high risk reference maternity NICU from Sergipe, realized with 158 ELBW infants admitted between March 2014 and April 2015. The analysis of the hospitalization time was realized through the Kaplan-Meier method. Results: the average weight of premature was 785,2g ± 138,2g. The gestational age vary from 22 to 35 weeks and the average was 26,8 weeks. Of those admitted at NICU, sixty three (39,9%) were discharged and 95 (60,1%) died. The time of hospitalization was influenced for morbidities as: patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), intraventricular hemorrhage and sepsis. Acute respiratory distress syndrome was the most common complication (157 - 99,4%). The incidence of persistent arterial duct, intraventricular hemorrhage, sepsis, hypothermia, hypoglycemia and retinopathy of prematurity was 39,2%, 17,1%, 32,3%,50,3%, 52,3% e 16,6% respectively. Conclusions: the morbidities from respiratory tract, cardiac, neurological and infectious were the most prevalent, whilst PDA, intraventricular hemorrhage and sepsis were the morbidities that significantly influenced the time of hospitalization