Necessity of echocardiography in evaluation of neonates with respiratory distress admitted in NICU

Respiratory distress is the most frequent cause of admission in NICU. Immediate differentiate between cardiac and non-cardiac causes, could influence course of treatment. The aim of this study is to evaluate necessity of echocardiography in evaluation of neonates with respiratory distress in NICU.
This retrospective study was performed on 349 neonates admitted due to respiratory distress in the NICU of Izadi and Hazrat-e-Masoumeh hospitals in the city of Qom in 2013. Data was collected and analyzed by chi-square test and t-test using SPSS software.
15% of respiratory distress cause was extra pulmonary and most common causes were sepsis. Echocardiography was done for 55.3% of neonates. Among cardiac cause of respiratory distress, large and very large PDAs (27.3%), large ventricular septal defect (22.7%) and dTGA (18.2%) were most common causes. Gender of infant, type of childbirth, season of birth, length of hospital stay and the 5-minute Apgar score was not significantly different among cardiac and non-cardiac causes, but gestational age and age of infants was significantly higher in babies with cardiac disease.
It seems, in addition to current criteria (respiratory distress and murmurs) to decide for echocardiography, term neonate and older infants should also be considered. prolonged respiratory distress and murmur, cardiac causes may be considered in.