The Prevalence of Complications of Prematurity among 1000 Newborns with Weight of Less than 1500 Grams in University Hospitals in Isfahan City, Iran

This study aimed to identify the relative frequency of some of the most important complications of prematurity in a population of about 1,000 of premature newborns in Isfahan City, Iran, in order to use it for further decisions.
This cross-sectional study was done between the years 2012 and 2017 in university hospitals in Isfahan City. Information of 1000 premature infants with weight of less than 1500 grams were collected and demographic variables such as gestational age at birth, birth weight, and infant's gender, as well as prematurity complications such as respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH), necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), chronic lung disease (CLD), and neonatal sepsis were recorded and analyzed.
Findings: The mean gestational age at birth was 30.19 ± 2.26 weeks. The mean birth weight in the study population was 1223.96 ± 227.77 grams. 798 newborns (79.8%) had respiratory distress syndrome which also had the most prevalence frequency. Furthermore, the number of newborns who had chronic lung disease was 80 (8.0%), with the lowest prevalence. Patent ductus arteriosus, intraventricular hemorrhage, and necrotizing enterocolitis was seen in 14.1, 12.6, 8.5, and 20.6 percent of newborns, respectively.
We demonstrated that alongside the low death rates in this study, managing disorders related to prematurity period should be considered more, especially caring for respiratory management should be considered remarkably since respiratory distress syndrome stands as the most prevalent disease among premature newborns. Efforts also should be made to reduce the number of diseases such as intraventricular hemorrhage that worsen the prognosis.