title: Mortality and morbidity in extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants in a neonatal intensive care unit.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the morbidity and mortality in ELBW babies till discharge from a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was a prospective observational study conducted in a 40 bed well equipped level III care NICU between 01.12.2006 and 30.04.2008. All ELBW babies admitted during this period were assessed for morbidities and interventions required during NICU stay and for their outcome like survival or death.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The survival rate of 87 ELBW babies admitted during this period was 56.1 %. Pulmonary hemorrhage was the commonest cause of death (25 %) followed by respiratory distress syndrome (22.5 %), intraventricular hemorrhage (22.5 %) and sepsis (20 %). Significantly higher number of non-survivors were <750 g at birth (p = 0.0001) and <28 wk gestation (p = 0.0001). Small for gestational babies had better chances of survival compared to those appropriate for gestational age (p = 0.005). RDS (67.8 %), probable sepsis (62.1 %) and hyperbilirubinemia (59.8 %) were the most frequent morbidities. Conventional ventilation (72.4 %) and nasal CPAP(48.3 %) were the commonest respiratory interventions. Surfactant replacement therapy was required in 47.1 % babies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  ELBW babies have a major contribution to mortality in a NICU. Babies with birth weight <750 g and gestation <28 wk have poor survival. RDS, pulmonary hemorrhage, IVH and sepsis are the common causes of death while RDS, sepsis and hyperbilirubinemia are the most common morbidities.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, KEM Hospital, Sardar Moodliar Road, Rasta Peth, Pune, Maharashtra 411011, India.
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tagare
authors.forename: Sudha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chaudhari
authors.forename: Sandeep
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kadam
authors.forename: Umesh
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Vaidya
authors.forename: Anand
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pandit
authors.forename: Mehmood G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Sayyad
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007226:Infant Mortality; D052577:Infant, Extremely Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; D008297:Male; D009017:Morbidity; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate