Pattern of Neonatal Admissions in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Objective: To document the number, disease pattern and outcome of patients admitted to a tertiary care neonatal unit. Design: Descriptive study. Place and duration of study: The study was conducted in the Neonatal Unit of Services Hospital Lahore from 1st January 2006 to 31st December 2006. Patients and methods: The data of all the admitted neonates was analyzed for age and weight at the time of admission, sex, duration of stay, cause of admission and outcome. Results: A total of 1554 neonates were included during study period. Among them 62.1% were males, 45.3% were admitted within 6 hours of their life, and 44.21% were discharged within 72 hours of their admission. The low birth weight accounted for 40.54% of the total admissions. Birth asphyxia was the major cause of admission (24.3%), followed by jaundice (17.9%), prematurity (16.5%), sepsis (16%), meconium aspiration syndrome (6%), infant of diabetic mother (2.7%), pneumonia (2.5%), meningitis (1.3%). Other causes of admission were hyaline membrane disease (2.2%), diarrhea (1.9%), metabolic convulsions (1.3%), hemorrhagic disease of newborn (0.3%). More than two third of patients (75.03%) were discharged in a satisfactory condition, 20.98% died and 3.99% left against medical advice (LAMA). Conclusion: Birth asphyxia, Jaundice, prematurity and sepsis were the major causes of neonatal admissions. Key word: Neonates, low birth weight, prematurity